SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid has signed off on the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, reports El Reg.
Javid's certifying of the US extradition request lodged this week is the first formal step in having Assange sent across the pond. The next phase is tomorrow, when Belmarsh Magistrates' Court will set a date for a full extradition hearing. After that, assuming a district judge (full-time professional magistrate) OKs the extradition, Javid himself will make the final decision on whether or not to send the one-time chief WikiLeaker to America, as UK.gov's website explains. It is almost certain Assange will file an appeal to the High Court after the district judge's ruling, and again (as the law allows) after the Home Secretary's final decision.
In the US, Assange will face charges of violating espionage law.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Thursday June 13 2019, @09:36PM (7 children)
If he committed a crime against the US government then indicting him and extraditing him for trial is called DUE PROCESS. Of course he was going to be extradited if charged, that's how it works!
The Obama admin policy was to not indict him because they felt he was protected by the first ammendment. Trump differs, apparently.
What was never going to happen was summary execution of going directly to Gitmo or whatever other conspiracy theory nonsense people around here were spouting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @10:42PM
Never say never.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @11:02PM (2 children)
Just like how all the "conspiracy theory nonsense people" were of their rocker when they said that the charges against him by Sweden were just an excuse to get him to the US.
I just find it interesting how the goalposts keep moving. First it was that he had nothing to fear from the US and the arrest warrant was because Sweden was interested in him (and don't pay too much attention because he is an EVIL RAPIST... allegedly). Then when the secret extradition request was leaked due to the technical mistake, it was "not a big deal." Now we are taking solace in that it's "DUE PROCESS."
So what would need to happen to make this seem bad to the apologists? What if was given a show-trial in a kangaroo court? In a closed-door military tribunal? Sent to a secret prison "for his own safety given his high profile status?" Kept in solitary confinement? Waterboarded? Executed?
Exactly at what point is it, "this has gone too far?"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @12:05AM (1 child)
It would need to happen to them.
It has gone too far only when it happens to them. So long as it's happening to someone else they have no problem with whatever it is that's happening.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday June 14 2019, @03:17PM
First they came for the Communists
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @03:11AM (2 children)
Horse shit. Time to admit the US is fucked up. Due process is a fiction, justice is a fiction, and it has been the same for millenia. The US was founded on the believable lie of freedom. The country was so large that malcontents could spread out, but now that relief valve is shut tight and the farce is finally being exposed.
The saving grace? The lie was so well propagated that many people believe it. So will we continue down the path of imperialism? Or will the US stand up for real freedom, real democracy?
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @03:22AM (1 child)
You said it, brother! All those sham trials back in the third and fourth centuries is a blemish that the US court system can't erase.
And don't forget all the horrible, unforgivable, prosecutorial abuses of US state and local prosecutors in the 11th and 12th centuries.
It's amazing that after all this time anyone believes the US can have justice.
Then again, there's at least one person (that'd be you) that thinks the US has existed for millenia, so who am I to judge?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 16 2019, @08:31AM
He was implying the prosecutorial injustices have been going on since the beginning of recorded history, and the only reason it took so long for it to be so obvious in the US is because there was plenty of space for the European colonists and settlers to spread out into, bringing 'civilization', and how said civilization due to being spread so thin, provided a believable veneer of freedom to the average person who had lots of room to struggle with hard work, or lies, cheating and stealing to eventually prosper. Now that America has reached its possible 'colonial' bounds, and had time to infill in all the most livable parts of the country, now the oppression is clamping down, just like it once did in Europe, China, and other 'civilized' parts of the world, where prosperity brought with it unyielding authoritarianism.