SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Julian Assange's extradition from UK to US approved by home secretary
Priti Patel has approved the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US, a decision the organisation immediately said it would appeal against in the high court.
The case passed to the home secretary last month after the supreme court ruled there were no legal questions over assurances given by US authorities over how Assange was likely to be treated.
While Patel has given a green light, WikiLeaks immediately released a statement to say it would appeal against the decision.
"Today is not the end of fight," it said. "It is only the beginning of a new legal battle. We will appeal through the legal system; the next appeal will be before the high court."
Also at NYT.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Monday June 20 2022, @06:39AM (22 children)
I'm not 100% sure of what crimes he actually committed. I was looking at wikipedia -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_Julian_Assange [wikipedia.org]
The gist of the Wikipedia article is that he published Chelsea Mannings stuff. The main charges are Espionage, usually something reserved for government employees, and Computer Intrusion, which is a 5 year max penalty.
The Espionage charges weren't brought until 2019.
So you have to wonder, why the urgency, when other main-stream publications published this same stuff, without all the hoopla.
Just based on this info, one must ask themselves, 'Was he a government employee at the time? Was there some agreement that he violated that is still sealed?'
I read somewhere that the government was upset with him, because he supposedly coerced Manning to do these things and their case is that without Assange, Manning wouldn't do the things Manning did. No idea if that is true...
The whole thing seems over the top to me, but of course I'm a lowly peasant and am sure my government is doing the right thing to keep us all safe. All hail the chief!
I must ask though, how many millions have been spent on this while my kid does more and more lockdown drills at school?
I guess my problem is I wish this was all logical.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday June 20 2022, @08:13AM (2 children)
The charge of espionage is not reserved for government employees. It just happens that they are more likely to be involved because they have easier access to the secrets.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 20 2022, @06:18PM (1 child)
The main charge IS NOT ESPIONAGE.
People are just throwing around bullshit without even looking at what he is charged with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20 2022, @09:58PM
Great thing is, in order to commit the crime of "espionage" , even under the Universal Code of Military Justice, the nation has to be in a state of war, a legal, declared state of war. You cannot give information to the "enemy" unless there is one. More and more, however, the "enemy" of the intelligence agencies, whether ISI or CIA, seems to be the public, and thus, journalists.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20 2022, @08:16AM (2 children)
Speaking of logic, what's the logical relation between the waste of money for $PURPOSE and your kid doing more or less lockdown drills?
It's not like the cause of your kid doing lockdown drills is "not enough budget, because it was diverted", is it?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday June 20 2022, @09:45AM (1 child)
What are lockdown drills?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20 2022, @01:12PM
Were I to take a wild guess, I'd say they are the complete opposite of openup screws.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20 2022, @09:21AM (5 children)
Your kids get lockdown drills in schools because of some value guns more than life. But it's ok, nothing can be done about it, says the only nation in the world where this is a regular occurrance.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/justice-burger-2nd-amendment-meme/ [snopes.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22No_Way_to_Prevent_This%22,_Says_Only_Nation_Where_This_Regularly_Happens [wikipedia.org]
https://www.thebulwark.com/doug-mastriano-christian-nationalism-and-the-cult-of-the-ar-15/ [thebulwark.com]
So, Assange is something that can be done to harass and "warn" others. Like Putin's poisoning of his enemies abroad, but this is American equivalent. And this was going on how long? Obama? Trump? Biden? so, it's not one party thing. But hey, what do I know.
But don't equate that to reason your kids need to learn to smear blood of dead classmates on their body to pretend to be dead. That's 100% internal to your own problems you have created and pretend that nothing can be done about it. And has NOTHING to do with Assange or spending money on anything or not spending money on something.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 20 2022, @02:27PM (4 children)
Seems like we could fix that by getting school administrators that value kids more than guns. We do have those in the US somewhere, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20 2022, @04:00PM (3 children)
I love when your rightwinger attitude just can't help shining through. What can school admins do if they just cared more about the kids???
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 20 2022, @04:33PM (2 children)
Drop the hysterical lockdown drills for starters.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 20 2022, @06:11PM (1 child)
Maybe stop shooting first?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 20 2022, @07:02PM
(Score: 5, Informative) by unauthorized on Monday June 20 2022, @10:21AM
The big charge that they have against him is that he allegedly aided Manning in acquiring the data by providing instructions, rather than simply publishing it. Yes, it's flimsy as fuck, but the USA security state has already won by destroying this man's life and created a chilling affect against others who would reveal evidence of American warcrimes. Even if they don't get a conviction and get to pretend that due process was respected, as if adhering to the letter of the law somehow overrides the gross injustices already committed.
(Score: 2, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 20 2022, @11:58AM (5 children)
All charges are bogus. Maybe if Assange had provided technical assistance to Manning while Manning was committing his crimes, they would have a legitimate charge. Assange's only 'crime' is pissing off the people in power. That would primarily be Hillary Clinton and the DNC, but includes pretty much everyone involved in the US Military Industrial Complex and the US Intelligence services. Members of government who are outside of those two communities seem to be less pissed off at Assange, but they feel the need to protect the American Empire.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20 2022, @12:14PM (4 children)
That is exactly what he is being charged with... so you are OK with the charges then?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 20 2022, @04:05PM (3 children)
No, I am not alright with any charges. Manning didn't go on any army bases, or access any army computers. Any charge that he was the technician responsible for extracting data is bogus.
And, that is NOT the only charge against him. He is charged with an array of bogus charges.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 20 2022, @09:00PM (2 children)
That's for a jury to decide. Neither one of us knows whether it is bogus or true.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 20 2022, @10:56PM (1 child)
And, you're kinda missing the point. All the charges are bogus, if for no other reason, he was never within US jurisdiction. The prosecution of Assange is a clear signal to journalists throughout the world. "Be nice to us, or suffer Assange's fate. Play the game like we tell you to, or you'll be out of the game with two broken legs, or worse."
And, we have the gall to complain when some Arab crown prince has a journalist dismembered.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @08:53PM
Oh please! It's an act. Imagine what the tabloids would say if we didn't "complain". And now, Biden is going over there to kiss some Saudi ass and say, "it's all good, please don't kill the petrodollar"
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 20 2022, @03:01PM
Statute of limitations?
Goddamn, the swooning and handwringing about how this is all just so darn complicated our feeble minds can't figure out......on this particular forum.....is coming off super bad faith to me.....
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Monday June 20 2022, @04:49PM (1 child)
His charge isn't just general Espionage but rather violation of Espionage Act of 1917, which also covers things like foreign propaganda. Also it's criticized as overbroad and suppressive in nature. I'm not sure why there wasn't made an argument of its in-applicability on UK soil in those appeals. An act not being not a crime in the country that is supposed to perform the extradition is sufficient to deny the extradition. If such an argument isn't made then US in future could just extradite UK intelligence operatives if they gather data on US as part of their job.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday June 20 2022, @05:39PM
The actual charges listed in the indictment is 18 U.S.C. §§ 371,1030( a )(1 ), 1030( a )(2),) 1030( C )(2)(B)(ii))
So 371 is this:
18 U.S. Code § 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States [cornell.edu]
1030 is commonly known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
18 U.S. Code § 1030 - Fraud and related activity in connection with computers [cornell.edu]
371 is specific to committing a crime against the government and 1030 is just the normal hacking laws we're all subject to. They may be flawed but everyone is acting like these are some super secret laws he's being subject to but they're just the normal shitty ones we all get to deal with.