Julian Assange loses appeal against extradition

I'm a Brit, and I was under the impression that our government bends over and gives the US anyone they want, whereas the Swedes give a shit about peoples rights...

I'd have thought Assange is safer from the US in Sweden than he was in the UK. Plus he'll find it a lot easier to travel to different countries if he's on mainland Europe (assuming he's not imprisoned for this rape stuff)

When you have multiple world leaders going after you, there's not much you can do. Basically Julian is fucked.

I suspect a lot of people here will rush to call some kind of politically motivated conspiracy. I suspect they don't really understand how the UK legal system works.

If you actually read the judgment [0], you'll see it's pretty iron-clad. Very few people in the field thought this appeal was going to succeed. The simple fact is that the UK has obligations to Europe, including turning over those accused of committing crimes in other member states. It is extremely hard to get out of those obligations.

I cannot overstate just how detailed the judgement is. There is very little room for maneuverer by Assange, and his legal defence during the appeal was pretty poor. His entire defence is ripped apart.

People seem to be under the mistaken impression it is somehow up to the English courts to determine whether Assange is guilty or not. It isn't. It's up to the English courts to determine whether the warrant for his arrest was issued properly, and whether it meets the relevant dual-criminality standards. Which it was, and does, on every level.

The issue of whether Assange is at risk of extradition to the US from Sweden is not relevant to this case, in any way, shape, or form.

[0] http://images.newstatesman.com/RC.pdf

In any case, Assange's done time at this point is more than he can expect to be sentenced to if that happens, and so if convicted he should be promptly released anyway.

That being said I don't think there is some big dark conspiracy with the CIA pulling the strings, but more a case of local prosecutors and politicians who saw a chance to make a name for themselves, and a tiny country with self-esteem issues desperately wanting to swing their dick with the big boys (and I say that last bit as a Swede).

The treatment have most likely not been politically motivated, as Sweden's justice system doesn't work that way. Politicians can't really sway prosecutions.

It's also likely that Assange is not guilty of rape (the allegations have a lot of holes and inconsistencies in them), though probably guilty of being an asshole. Alas, that's not a crime. Nevertheless, this is not a reason to drop the case without investigating it properly.

I try to keep a pretty sane, "normal", law-abiding lifestyle, but it would take a motivated official about 10 minutes to find dirt on me. And I'd imagine a lot of it isn't necessarily surprising nor as bad as it might sound.

Not saying Assange doesn't deserve to be punished for his wrongdoing, just don't think it should be held as being more important than if someone like myself committed those offences. If I helped uncover several cables illustrating corruption among elected officials everywhere, I shouldn't be surprised to be on the news often for uncovering incredibly important, politically sensored information.

WikiLeaks became Enemy Number One after the State Department cables. I'm sorry, but if you think this is anything other than politically motivated persecution you are simply mistaken.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/jaccuse-sweden-brit...

Choice quote:

In other words: Never in twenty-three years of reporting on and supporting victims of sexual assault around the world have I ever heard of a case of a man sought by two nations, and held in solitary confinement without bail in advance of being questioned -- for any alleged rape, even the most brutal or easily proven. In terms of a case involving the kinds of ambiguities and complexities of the alleged victims' complaints -- sex that began consensually that allegedly became non-consensual when dispute arose around a condom -- please find me, anywhere in the world, another man in prison today without bail on charges of anything comparable.

In addition, the degree to which spycraft entails placing people in compromising sexual situations, as well as, the explicit actions taken by the US and other wealthy governments in the interest of neutralizing and containing Wikileaks (e.g. trying to cut off funding), when combined with the vast resources available for a counter-espionage operation, certainly make a setup plausible even to people without tinfoil beanies.

Heck, the honeypot meme was even proposed here on HN.

That's not to say Assange didn't violate Swedish law. But as Stallman's rider might be said to illustrate, it can would pretty damn easy to place a couch sleeping nomad in a compromising position.

And although I in no way condone or approve of sexual assault, from a utilitarian standpoint, the ability of Wikileaks to continue its mission is highly likely to curb much worse behavior on a much larger scale. In my opinion, the argument that it is more important to hold governments and corporations accountable for their actions than it is to hold Assange accountable for his deserves the same consideration as arguments regarding the justifications for the wartime actions Assange helped expose.