Slashdot Mirror
Justice Department Is Preparing To Prosecute WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (wsj.com)
According to the Wall Street Journal, "the Justice Department is preparing to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) and is increasingly optimistic it will be able to get him into a U.S. courtroom." From the report: Over the past year, U.S. prosecutors have discussed several types of charges they could potentially bring against Mr. Assange, the people said. Mr. Assange has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since receiving political asylum from the South American country in 2012. The people familiar with the case wouldn't describe whether discussions were under way with the U.K. or Ecuador about Mr. Assange, but said they were encouraged by recent developments.
Prosecutors have considered publicly indicting Mr. Assange to try to trigger his removal from the embassy, the people said, because a detailed explanation of the evidence against Mr. Assange could give Ecuadorean authorities a reason to turn him over. The exact charges Justice Department might pursue remain unclear, but they may involve the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the disclosure of national defense-related information.
Prosecutors have considered publicly indicting Mr. Assange to try to trigger his removal from the embassy, the people said, because a detailed explanation of the evidence against Mr. Assange could give Ecuadorean authorities a reason to turn him over. The exact charges Justice Department might pursue remain unclear, but they may involve the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the disclosure of national defense-related information.
What? Telling the Truth? Out loud? Without a Permit? I love how the people he EXPOSED are still FREE AS BIRDS, but this guy just HAS To be "Prosecuted"
How do we get the right to prosecute a foreign national doing things in a foreign country that are protected by our own first amendment? Really don't understand this.
It's not paranoia when they're actually out to get you.
What they will be trying to prosecute, is that it is illegal for a foreign citizen in a foreign nation to report the criminal espionage activity of the United States government in those and other nations, interesting idea. So here I am in Australia, if I see an CIA agent murder an Australian in Australia, the US government wants to be able to prosecute me for the crime of espionage if I publicly report their crime, keeping in mind it is a crime to fail to report a crime, accessory after the fact. So the US government is attempting to demand that citizens all over the world, betray their own countries laws, to keep secret the criminal activities of the US government, in those countries.
Perhaps some of you can grasp why this would be an extremely hard sell, for anything but an entirely corrupt third world nation, a puppet state of the US deep state. He was reporting on US criminal activities outside of the US, as a foreign citizen, in a foreign land. Now the US wants to make it illegal and global law, that the US is able to break any countries laws for any reason and that no citizen of any country, NO CITIZEN, is allowed to report those crimes and should they do so, be subject to prosecution and obviously illegal detention and probably torture. Go fuck yourself USA. So will the UK buckle, probably not, not matter how much the US extorts them with the bullshit white helmets and the theft of 200 million US dollars, even after the poms were forced to buy more crappy F35 Flying Pigs as a result.
It would also be extremely poorly received in Australia and possibly result in a boycott of US goods, expect Breaker Morant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... messaging. Want to extradite Assange, do it from Australia, else face a major backlash and many Australians doing much worse than Julian Assange.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Assange quit exposing things for the sake of truth years ago. He used Wikileaks to pursue a personal agenda, and he made it very clear that he hoped to throw the US election.
He was so eager to pillory his target that he sold himself out, not only to their domestic opponents, but to a not-exactly-friendly foreign nation as well.
If there was ever anything to admire or respect about the man, there's precious little left of it now.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The reason why he wanted to expose the truth is completely irrelevant. The only thing relevant is that you want to crucify him only for exposing the truth. Again, it makes me sad that people like you consider exposing the truth is an atrocious crime. I can understand you may be nationalistic (although your signature in French makes me doubt that), but then you should have the honesty to say your goal is only to increase the power of the US by all means necessary. Do not try pretend to have the moral high-ground, because you really don't, at least not in my eyes.
BTW, I'm not American. I live in Canada, and I certainly consider the US as a "not-exactly-friendly foreign nation".