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posted by martyb on Monday July 23 2018, @08:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the how-much-has-he-paid-for-room&board? dept.

Ecuador Will Imminently Withdraw Asylum for Julian Assange and Hand Him Over to the UK. What Comes Next?

Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno traveled to London on Friday for the ostensible purpose of speaking at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit (Moreno has been using a wheelchair since being shot in a 1998 robbery attempt). The concealed, actual purpose of the President's trip is to meet with British officials to finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange, in place since 2012, eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand over the WikiLeaks founder to British authorities.

Moreno's itinerary also notably includes a trip to Madrid, where he will meet with Spanish officials still seething over Assange's denunciation of human rights abuses perpetrated by Spain's central government against protesters marching for Catalonia independence. Almost three months ago, Ecuador blocked Assange from accessing the internet, and Assange has not been able to communicate with the outside world ever since. The primary factor in Ecuador's decision to silence him was Spanish anger over Assange's tweets about Catalonia. A source close to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry and the President's office, unauthorized to speak publicly, has confirmed to the Intercept that Moreno is close to finalizing, if he has not already finalized, an agreement to hand over Assange to the UK within the next several weeks. The withdrawal of asylum and physical ejection of Assange could come as early as this week. On Friday, RT reported that Ecuador was preparing to enter into such an agreement.

[...] The central oddity of Assange's case – that he has been effectively imprisoned for eight years despite never having been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime – is virtually certain to be prolonged once Ecuador hands him over to the U.K. Even under the best-case scenario, it appears highly likely that Assange will continue to be imprisoned by British authorities. The only known criminal proceeding Assange currently faces is a pending 2012 arrest warrant for "failure to surrender" – basically a minor bail violation that arose when he obtained asylum from Ecuador rather than complying with bail conditions by returning to court for a hearing on his attempt to resist extradition to Sweden. That offense carries a prison term of three months and a fine, though it is possible that the time Assange has already spent in prison in the UK could be counted against that sentence. In 2010, Assange was imprisoned in Wandsworth Prison, kept in isolation, for 10 days until he was released on bail; he was then under house arrest for 550 days at the home of a supporter.

Assange's lawyer, Jen Robinson, told the Intercept that he would argue that all of that prison time already served should count toward (and thus completely fulfill) any prison term imposed on the "failure to surrender" charge, though British prosecutors would almost certainly contest that claim. Assange would also argue that he had a reasonable, valid basis for seeking asylum rather than submitting to UK authorities: namely, well-grounded fear that he would be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution for the act of publishing documents.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Monday July 23 2018, @10:16AM (12 children)

    by isostatic (365) on Monday July 23 2018, @10:16AM (#711129) Journal

    He's been accused of breaking the law. There was enough evidence to arrest him, then release him on bail. Chances are he would be re-arrested for that crime and then not released on bail as he's a flight risk, but that's the same as anyone accused of a crime

    The courts then swiftly determine if he's actually broken the law, and he either has, and he gets punished, or he hasn't, and he goes free

    Is your assertion is that someone who accused of robbing a bank, who goes into hiding in a cellar for 10 years and refuses to come out, is "confined to the cellar"?

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:29AM (10 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:29AM (#711138)

    You have no idea what you're tallking about. There was an Europol arrest warrant issued by Sweden, not because Assange was being accused of a crime, but because ostensibly being wanted for "questioning" before the cases proceed further. Both these cases were flimsy allegations of "rape" by feminists, which on closer observation amounted to Assange allegedly not using a condom during next-morning sex and being a general asshole towards women, but not a rapist under the definition the rest of the world would use.

    Those cases in Sweden have meanwhile collapsed and they no longer want him. The UK however, now want him on charges of skipping bail... funny how that works huh?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:54AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:54AM (#711154)

      If I recall correctly, the charges were "sexual fraud" or similar, not rape.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @04:21PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @04:21PM (#711291)

        yeah. "not using a rubber when you said you'd use a rubber". swedish government thinks it has the authority to micromanage the bedroom.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @03:37PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 24 2018, @03:37PM (#711756)

          No, it thinks it has the right to enforce verbal contracts, whether they're sexually related or not.

    • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:58AM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @10:58AM (#711157)

      He's a criminal and he's wanted by the authorities. The fact that he's been hiding in the Ecuadoran embassy to avoid arrest makes him look guilty. At this point nothing he can do will make him look innocent in the eyes of the world.

      If he acts like a criminal, runs like a criminal and hides like a criminal then he's probably a criminal. Just as a duck.

      • (Score: 2, Troll) by isostatic on Monday July 23 2018, @11:23AM (5 children)

        by isostatic (365) on Monday July 23 2018, @11:23AM (#711166) Journal

        > He's a criminal and he's wanted by the authorities. The

        *suspected* criminal. A European Arrest Warrant allows a suspected criminal to be extradited.

        > If he acts like a criminal, runs like a criminal and hides like a criminal then he's probably a criminal. Just as a duck.

        Not convinced. He's an egomaniac, maybe he's paranoid (just because they're out to get you doesn't mean you're not paranoid), but that's for the Swedish justice system to determine.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @02:36PM (4 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @02:36PM (#711243)

          but that's for the Swedish justice system to determine.

          You think that's his only crime? Many of the documents Wikileaks published violated a sovereign nation's laws. You may not agree with their laws, or with the fact that they want to charge him, but the facts are the facts.

          • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Monday July 23 2018, @03:23PM (3 children)

            by Thexalon (636) on Monday July 23 2018, @03:23PM (#711264)

            Many of the documents Wikileaks published violated a sovereign nation's laws.

            Which doesn't mean jack squat if the publication and the actions leading to their publication occurred outside of that sovereign nation's jurisdiction. What the US is trying to do to Assange is no different, legally speaking, than Saudi Arabia trying to get custody of an American for trial, torture, and/or execution for putting a drawing of Mohammed somewhere on the Internet.

            --
            The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @04:25PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @04:25PM (#711293)

              False equivalency. Try again.

            • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Monday July 23 2018, @04:44PM

              by Arik (4543) on Monday July 23 2018, @04:44PM (#711303) Journal
              That was a pretty good analogue, but reality is more bizarre than that here.

              Saudi Arabia is a country founded on the twin principles of Royal sovereignty in the secular realm, and Wahab state religion. So it actually makes sense for them to want to torture someone for drawing a cartoon of their prophet, internally at least, however little sense it makes from the outside you can see it's fundamentally consistent internally.

              The USA is a country that supposedly cares so much for freedom of speech, association, the free press etc. that we enshrined them in our Constitution! Yet we're attempting to prosecute a journalist for publishing material that the embarrassed those abusing public office, which is exactly what a free press is supposed to do! This is not consistent internally, it doesn't make sense at that level.

              --
              If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
            • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday July 24 2018, @09:05AM

              by isostatic (365) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @09:05AM (#711642) Journal

              Which doesn't mean jack squat if the publication and the actions leading to their publication occurred outside of that sovereign nation's jurisdiction

              America seems to think that they have global Jurisdiction.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @01:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @01:11PM (#711195)

    Is your assertion is that someone who accused of robbing a bank, who goes into hiding in a cellar for 10 years and refuses to come out, is "confined to the cellar"?

    Do you find bail-skipping whistleblowers as morally reprehensible as bank robbers?

    Let me guess -- that's for the courts to judge? How about you earn your nerd card and actually decide for yourself rather than constantly using the legal system as a proxy for ethics.