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Comment by Kiro | Hacker News Reader

"What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people."

What exactly is being "done" to Julian Assange? The only reason he's stuck in the embassy is because of rape accusations.

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Actually he said he would go to Sweden if they promised not to extradite him to the USA and they refused.

…because the Swedish government can make no such promise, as extradition is a matter for the judiciary, and the judiciary cannot hear the case until they have an extradition request in hand. Having a strong separation between government and judiciary is good.

He never had any guarantee from the UK that he would not be extradited, and yet was happy to spend time there.

> …because the Swedish government can make no such promise, as extradition is a matter for the judiciary

This is a half truth. The Swedish government can overrule the judiciary to prevent extradition, and have on multiple occasions.

They government have chosen not to offer such guarantees.

Though frankly, a bigger concern is the prosecutors insistence on not questioning him in the UK and her claim she somehow can't, despite evidence to the contrary (Swedish police regularly questions suspects outside of Sweden)

> He never had any guarantee from the UK that he would not be extradited, and yet was happy to spend time there.

He was happy to spend time here because unlike Sweden, the UK has not been quite as willing to illegally hand people over to the CIA for rendition flights (Sweden has admitted to multiple instances), and has a legal system that at least has a little bit of a spine in extradition cases on occasion.

Within a month, an extradition request was made official for Snowden. But in 2 years time, no such thing for Assange.

Then there should be no problem with the Swedish government offering a guarantee against extradition.

Perhaps it is a cultural difference, and if so forgive me. But before the Assange affair would you have ever used the phrase "rape accusations" to describe a woman suggesting that the condom used in consensual sex may not have ripped in an accidental manner? If one uses such a broad definition of malfeasance, god knows how many notorious crimes I could have been accused of in my lifetime.

Sweden's a different country with different standards, but you're also wildly over-simplifying.

> What exactly is being "done" to Julian Assange? The only reason he's stuck in the embassy is because of rape accusations.

Conveniently-timed rape accusations.

Q: "What exactly is being "done" to Julian Assange?"

A: "rape accusations"

Sometimes you need to look no further than your own comment to answer your own question.

What are you suggesting?

Do you really believe that the governments involved would be going after this case so hard if it was really about those allegations? Permanently stationing police outside the embassy day and night costing over $5 million?

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