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Comment by brvsft | Hacker News Reader

Is this the same Sweden?

> In November 2010, Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for Assange over allegations of sexual assault, which he denied and said that the warrant was a pretext for a further extradition to the United States over his role in the publication of secret U.S. military documents. After losing his battle against extradition to Sweden, he breached bail and took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in June 2012. He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 on the grounds of political persecution and fears he might be extradited to the United States. Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation in 2019, saying their evidence had "weakened considerably due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question".

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Allegations of the breach of sexual consent isn't really related to freedom of the press. But you're completely right in that this case reeks, and that was probably an diplomatic play. As an international player, Sweden, like all other countries, can be utterly disingenuous in protecting their diplomatic relations.

Seems directly related to me.

It's not. The women did a Swedish TV documentary last year I think. They haven't gained anything. Why lie about this.

The theory is that the charges weren't legit and were manufactured because he's an annoying journalist. Not sure how much more basis this had than just general tinhattery.

It's not. The women did a Swedish TV documentary last year I think. They haven't gained anything. Why lie about this.

Do you honestly think two honeypot agents would ever admit that they gained anything from the case? It's like saying that politicians don't gain anything from doing politics, and then they're suddenly offered cushy jobs after their service, at places like Brussels (EU) or New York (UN) complete with private drivers and "secretaries" a.k.a. private servants. Better yet, if you can make a touchy-feely documentary about it to skew public opinion, exonerating women who clearly had a lot to gain from it despite the case being dismissed. Sorry, that just sounds like a vengeful hit piece to me.

I'm not sure if you're genuinely asking (in which case yes - there's only one Sweden), or if you're attempting to make some kind of point? Persecuting sexual assault and caring about journalistic freedom are not mutually exclusive.

(I'd normally just leave the typo but this one's really bugging me and it's too late to edit the comment: *prosecuting)

Seems weird that you can try and persecute sex crimes, yet care for the freedom of the press, but yes.

Sexual assault is a crime, yes. You are not absolved from that, being a journalist.

What does freedom of the press have to do with sexual assault?

The UK is going to extradite him to the USA directly. Why would they need to involve Sweden in this at all?

It wasn't clever to do this in London. UK is the lackey of the US

Yes, of course it is. You have to be the right class of journalist, though.

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