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posted by cmn32480 on Friday August 12 2016, @05:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the stay-away-from-the-windows dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Ecuador has granted a request from Swedish prosecutors to question WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange at its embassy in London, where he has been holed up for over four years.

Assange was given asylum by Ecuador in 2012 after he slipped into the country’s embassy in the U.K. He is wanted by police in Sweden for questioning in connection with a sexual assault investigation.

U.K. police have said that they would arrest Assange to meet an extradition request from Sweden if he steps out from the Ecuador embassy. But Assange and his supporters have expressed fear that from Sweden, he could be transferred to the U.S. to face charges under the country's Espionage Act.

It is not clear whether the restraints on Assange proceeding to Ecuador or some other destination from the U.K. will be removed after the Swedish prosecutors' proceedings.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in February that the time Assange has spent in the London embassy amounted to arbitrary detention by the U.K. and Sweden. The decision by the body is not binding on the two countries but would have put some pressure on them to resolve the outstanding issue of Assange’s prolonged stay in the embassy.

Ecuador said Wednesday it stands by its offer of asylum to Assange as long as fears of political persecution continue. It said a date for the questioning by the investigators from Sweden is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks. Ecuador said it had offered to facilitate Assange's questioning at the embassy for over four years. 


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Friday August 12 2016, @11:21PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Friday August 12 2016, @11:21PM (#387242)

    But God only knows what would happen if he ended up in the US.

    I don't think there's any mystery about it: Some of the top American politicians have made it abundantly clear that step 1 is torture (they'll mince words about it and pretend it's not, but it is, and everyone knows it), and step 2 is his death. You'll notice that there's no use of the word "trial" anywhere in there.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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