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Comment by headcanon | Hacker News Reader

how much you wanna bet that Julian Assange will conveniently forget his agreement to be extradited if Manning gets pardoned? https://www.yahoo.com/news/assange-agrees-extradition-us-rel...

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"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case," WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter.

convenient for him to agree to be extradited to a country that hasn't requested his extradition, not the one that has...

That can be changed

I know these days we're all treating it as an established fact that Sweden's extradition request for Assange is actually a cover for him to be further extradited to the United States, but it has never actually been proven.

Given how Swedish ministers dirtied their hands when the MPAA wanted them to interfere in Pirate Bay investigations... I will require proof they WOULD NOT say "how high?" if the Dept of Justice of the USA asked them to jump.

Didn't the women drop all charges, if they even charged him in the first place?

I think it's fair to assume, given the circumstances

No, the case was originally reopened at the request of their lawyer, and we have relatively recent statements from them insisting they want the case to proceed

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/julian-assange-rape...

I have heard that it's impossible to prove. Sweden cannot say "this will not happen" as they cannot see the future and the US cannot say "we will not issue a request" as they cannot issue one until he is Sweden. The US could say what their intentions are though.

Which means Assange knew it was a double bind when he said what he said. They never tried to extradite him, even if it was implied. This now means that everyone expects the US to extradite him, which is what they were trying to avoid to begin with by extraditing him to Sweden. And, if they do extradite him, the US will have to come up with a reason why they didn't to begin with.

Brilliant move and interesting timing. This chess match is just getting going.

Why would the US show the slightest inclination to change to its longstanding policy of not showing any interest in extraditing Assange based on a tweet?

That is an unanswerable question, given the current lack of data.

What happens if the US accepts his offer, extradites him to the US, and then immediately extradites him to Sweden at their request? It would effectively blow up his continual insistence that the Swedish extradition is nothing more than a smokescreen to get him to the US.

Don't bet too much:

"Assange lawyer @themtchair on Assange-Manning extradition 'deal': "Everything that he has said he's standing by.""

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/821528189625372672

He didn't pardon her.

The article was talking about clemency, not pardon.

This DoJ list of clemency recipients includes both pardons and commutations.

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemencyrecipients

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819630102787059713

"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case"

Not nearly as much as the amount I would bet that Manning will never get pardoned.

the clemency is also 6 months into the future. presumably, at that time, things will in a slightly less absurdist position for someone like him. I cannot imagine him getting anything resembling a fair trial right now. In 6 months? sure.

I would not be surprised if he does not honor that as the incoming president will likely be even harsher on an Assange trial then an Obama presidency would be.

Assange has only to say something nice about Trump, and all will be forgiven[0].

0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/08/do...

Forget what? There was no pardon by Obama, so that agreement does not apply.

Why would you want to detract from the good news of Chelsea having a release date in the very near future and conflate that with a different issue regarding Assange?

If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819630102787059713

Commuting the sentence is "granting clemency", isn't it?

"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case," WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter.

- https://www.yahoo.com/news/assange-agrees-extradition-us-rel...

What is the difference between a commutation of sentence and a pardon?

In the federal system, commutation of sentence and pardon are different forms of executive clemency, which is a broad term that applies to the President’s constitutional power to exercise leniency toward persons who have committed federal crimes.

- https://www.justice.gov/pardon/frequently-asked-questions-co...

I.e.: commutation ∈ clemency.

So let's pretend the sentence was reduced by a week instead. Would that still be the same thing?

Then Obama's action would be the letter of clemency but not the spirit, and there would be room for disagreement about whether Assange should keep his word.

But since that's not what happened and Obama's actual action honors both the letter and the spirit of clemency, there's nothing worth debating here.

Didn't realize the sentence was reduced by so much. Apparently only a few months are left in the sentence.

It wouldn't be the same thing. But that didn't happen, her sentence was reduced by 2-3 decades and she'll be out in a few months. It's clearly clemency.

That's a very interesting scenario, Mr Devil's Advocate

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