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Comment by objclxt | Hacker News Reader

I've posted about this before in previous HN stories, but it's actually not that dodgy: because EU borders are open (you can move between EU countries freely) it's important to have a process for arrest warrants that are valid throughout the EU.

That's what's happened here: Sweden wants to question Assange, with a view to potentially bringing charges. They have issued an arrest warrant to arrest him - his guilt is irrelevant.

As many people have mentioned, the UK actually has a strong record of extraditing people to the US: if anything, Sweden is less co-operative (for example, Roman Polanski will never set foot in the UK for fear of being arrested and extradited, but he was happy to enter Sweden).

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Actually, Polanski was arrested and released in Switzerland, not Sweden.

Polanski is also a different kettle of fish compared to Assange. Polanski has various friends in high places. Assange has few.

Also, Assange managed to piss off almost every single branch of the US government. Rather than merely shooting himself in the foot, he blew his entire leg off with a shotgun.

Not to say what he was trying to achieve wasn't noble. In my personal opinion state corruption still needs to be exposed, even if that state is the United States. However, the line he walks is a very very fine one. The US was quite happy with him exposing corruption in other nations, regardless of the human cost, but not their own it appears.

At the end of the day, although the backyard he shat in wasn't his own, it just happened to belong to a damn big nasty rottweiler.

I am, however, confused at how the US can charge him for espionage, given that he's not a US citizen.

It makes sense that he would be extradited to Sweden -- he's accused of committing a crime(well, 2) while he was present in the country. I don't see the same applying to what he's accused of in the US.

Lots of non-US citizens have been charged and found guilty of espionage by the US. The cold war is full of examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Soviet_and_Russian_e...

I'm not sure whether you have to be physically present in the US to be guilty of espionage. The game has changed somewhat. It used to be that you had send someone to sneak inside buildings in the middle of the night, taking photos of secret documents on James bond mini-cameras hidden in fake fountain pens.

These days, you just hack the computer network remotely, or write a computer worm that monitors the 'good stuff' and sends it home to 'mama' in Fort Meade.

I am not sure you have to be found guilty of anything by anyone. The game has changed somewhat. All it takes is for someone to decide that you deserve a spot on president's kill list [1] and one predator strike later you are no more.

[1] http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/30/glenn_greenwald_obamas...

Luckily for Assange it wouldn't go down so well for UK-US relations if the president ordered a predator strike on Ellingham Hall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellingham_Hall,_Norfolk#Refuge

You're totally right - I've corrected that. My apologies.

Why can't he be questioned in Britain?

"Swedish law requires a person to be physically present before charges can be laid, so this can only happen once Mr Assange is on Swedish territory." http://www.fairtrials.net/documents/Sweden_QA.pdf

That's just how their justice system works. He is accused of committing the crimes in Sweden, so in Sweden shall he be questioned.

You haven't answered the question.

Yes I did. The question was, "Why can't he be questioned in Britain?"

Swedish law says he has to be questioned in Sweden, not Britain.

How's that not an answer?

questioned <> charged

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