Comment by hremid | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hremid | Hacker News Reader

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Without getting into the details, it should be pointed out that:

* Mr. Assange hasn't been charged with any offense and denies any wrong-doing.

* He submitted to questioning by police in Stockholm in August, 2010.

* He agreed to further questioning in UK, something routinely done under UK's Mutual Legal Assistance system. Sweden refused for unspecified reasons [1].

* Mr. Assange has agreed to go to Sweden upon assurance that he won't be extradited to the US (an assurance the Swedish government has the legal authority to provide).

* "[Sweden] has a disturbing history of lawlessly handing over suspects to the US. A 2006 UN ruling found Sweden in violation of the global ban on torture for helping the CIA render two suspected terrorists to Egypt, where they were brutally tortured (both individuals, asylum-seekers in Sweden, were ultimately found to be innocent of any connection to terrorism and received a monetary settlement from the Swedish government)." [2]

* The physical evidence provided in the case does not implicate Assange in any way.

[1] https://twitter.com/Utrikesdep/status/236792222937399296 (Swedish Foreign Ministry)

[2]

(a) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/20/julian-a...

(b) http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-b...

Why the hell should he get an assurance that he will not be extradited? That's a guarantee the Swedish government most certainly cannot give him (or anybody else). It would be crazy to do that and has nothing whatsoever to do with the case at hand.

But keep on spreading your weird propaganda.

"Why the hell should he get an assurance that he will not be extradited? That's a guarantee the Swedish government most certainly cannot give him (or anybody else)"

Why is that so absurd? Perhaps provide some reasoning above it being 'crazy propaganda' that sovereign nations should be able to dictate law within their own borders.

Because the Swedish government cannot guarantee upfront that they will not extradite him some time in the future. They are not psychic. They have a treaty with the US and they want to honour that. If they get a request and it doesn’t violate any of the conditions they have for extradition with the US then the Swedish government will extradite him. (Which, by the way, is completely normal.)

Asking for a guarantee to not be extradited is just completely insane. It’s like asking not to imprisoned.

You know, I have done nothing wrong, nothing for which I could possibly ever end up in prison, so pretty please my government, why won’t you give me a guarantee that you won’t ever put me in prison? Wouldn’t that be nice? No, it’s just absurd and a preposterous demand.

All the Swedish government can do is assure him that there are currently no extradition requests from the US and that if that doesn’t change he is guaranteed to not be extradited to the US. (I don’t think that guarantee would have been enough for Assange.)

Here in NZ it is illegal to transfer a prisoner into the care of a country known to torture its prisoners.

Surely its not unreasonable, before surrendering, to request a promise that one will not be sent into a regime known for torturing its prisoners?

He cannot be extradited from any EU country (including the UK and Sweden) if there is reasonable doubt about their human rights being upheld (therefore including torture and the death penalty).

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