WSJ News Exclusive | WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Wouldn't Go to Supermax if Extradited, U.S. Says:
LONDON—The U.S. government has given assurances to the U.K. that Julian Assange wouldn't be held under the strictest maximum-security conditions if extradited to the U.S., a concession aimed at resolving Washington's yearslong battle to put the WikiLeaks founder on trial on espionage charges.
The U.S. has also assured British authorities that Mr. Assange, if convicted, would be permitted to serve any jail time in his native Australia, according to excerpts of a court ruling provided by the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service, the public prosecutor's office for England and Wales.
A U.K. court on Wednesday formally allowed a U.S. government appeal against a January ruling blocking Mr. Assange's extradition. No date for a hearing has yet been set.
A British judge in January refused to grant a U.S. request to extradite Mr. Assange on the grounds that he would likely commit suicide if incarcerated in a federal maximum-security, or "Supermax," prison and subjected to added security measures, such as solitary confinement, which are common pretrial arrangements in national-security cases.
The U.S. has given the U.K. a package of assurances that Mr. Assange won't be held at ADX, a maximum-security federal penitentiary in Colorado, or subjected to extra security measures, according to the excerpts of the ruling, potentially removing a key impediment to his potential extradition.
[...] Experts said the Justice Department's offer to allow Mr. Assange to serve out any sentence in Australia was unusual, given that inmates usually only apply for such a move once they have been convicted, under the international prisoner transfer program.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Friday July 09 2021, @10:40PM (8 children)
The charges are bullshit [stundin.is].
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @12:11AM (3 children)
He made Hillary look bad and arguably handed the 2016 election to Trump. Hillary's goons have killed many people for far less than that. What was Hillarious was when that happened, to see how quickly the progressives and their Jews in the mainstream media turned on him, accusing him of being a Russian agent and other such nonsense when only months before they hailed him as a shining beacon of journalistic integrity and liberty.
Justice in the traditional sense doesn't exist when you commit a crime of that magnitude against the Jews. He was lucky he was able to flee before Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Rod Rosenstein could have him Seth Rich'd. Frankly it's amazing that he hasn't yet fallen victim to the "Arkansas Suicide," especially since England is even more of a dystopic Jew-run shithole than America is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @02:54AM
^ He's not far from the truth.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @09:06AM (1 child)
That's as stupid as publicly calling your potential customers suckers. Even if it's true you only do that in private.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @12:41PM
She called Trump supporters "deplorables." Not voters in general. She was too polite. She should have called them "Propaganda-filled, lying, authoritarian buttfucks." That would have been far more accurate, although maybe not politically correct.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:11AM
Assange's news organization embarrassed powerful people. He must be made an example of. First amendment rights of journalists be damned. And, if reporters for Reuters, NY Times, etc. are hesitant to report on leaked documents, in the future, well, that is the point.
The U.S. has a history of this sort of demonstration trial. Several of the men who were executed in the aftermath of the Haymarket were acknowledged, by the prosecution, as not even being present when the policeman was killed (some had never visited Haymarket, in their lives), yet were convicted of murder of a policeman at Haymarket and executed. These dead men were to serve as an example of what the state would do if you inconvenienced powerful people-- the executed were (non-corporate union aka "radical") labor organizers.
At least, we didn't send a bombing raid against Wikileaks, although we probably would have if they had offices based in a weak nation. Baby Bush had Al Jazera reporters / offices bombed (multiple times) since they kept reporting from the ground in Iraq, and not just regurgitating the official US propaganda that was disseminated to western reporters hiding in the "green zone".
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:45AM
BS they are. The poor guy has been a scapegoat and target for too long. The US could do the adult thing and just drop all charges.
However, this jumping to post-sentencing options means the jury and judge have been and already cast their lots - guilty.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Saturday July 10 2021, @09:48AM
Because you don't piss off the school bully and can expect to get away with it. It's a reputation thing, he can't just let someone flip him off and allow it, that could lead to everyone doing it and that would in turn show them that they CAN actually stand up to him when they're all doing it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 10 2021, @09:56AM
TBH, I thought we all knew the charges were bullshit when they were first publicized. One after the other, almost all the charges were exposed as fraudulent within days or weeks of being made. This latest exposure of a lying "witness" changes nothing. It's par for the course that the US government relies on a convict who is easily manipulated and coerced into saying whatever government wants him to say.
Give me a busload of convicts, a gun to threaten them with, and some vague rewards to offer them. I'll have the Pope, Queen Elizabeth, Biden, and all the members of Britain's parliament and all the members of the US congress convicted in short order. If I can't actually get convictions in court, I'll get convictions in the court of public opinion!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 09 2021, @10:40PM (22 children)
The persecution of a free press is the issue. The US government has no justification for it's continued harassment of a member of the press , whom the government disapproves of.
Freedom of speech, and freedom of the press are easy, when the press is printing stuff you like. It's not so easy when they are printing stuff you don't like.
Hypocritical bastards in Washington should all be going to prison themselves.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday July 09 2021, @10:51PM (4 children)
Justice is not the issue. Whether Assange did something punishable by law is irrelevant. Even if the charges are dropped and he's let free eventually doesn't matter.
Assange is a warning to anybody who might be tempted to do the same thing: the United States will make your life a living hell.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:05PM (3 children)
The US hasn't done shit to him yet, other than to say they'd like to charge him. He held himself hostage in the embassy, and he was was't hiding from the US in there. The US doesn't want him because he's a diva and not worth spending the time giving him a platform for his ego. They've come right out and said, hey, if he's convicted, he can serve time all the way on the other side of the world. That is highly unusual and should give you a clue what they think of him. Assange's biggest error was letting himself become a useful idiot for the Russians. Snowden is the one who did real harm to the US. Assange just embarrassed other people (I don't think he can embarrass himself due to his visions of grandeur).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:11PM
It's the exact opposite. These assurances reek of desperation by the U.S. Expect bets on whether they renege on the promise to let Assange serve time in Australia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @03:00AM
The U.S. doesn't want him? Then how do you explain that whole "sex without consent" charge in Sweden about him having sex after saying he'd use a condom but didn't, the weakest made-up charge that ever existed, and the reluctance of the woman to accuse him but the strange zeal of the Swedish govt to go after him? It was all a setup from day one with the ultimate goal over extraditing him to America.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @03:12AM
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @10:56PM (12 children)
I do wonder where are the boundaries for being considered "the press"? Where is that line between journalist and propagandist? He works with Russian intel to dump material. He fosters relationships with dupes and convinces them to go to jail for him so that HE can bask in the glory of releasing embarrassing information. And when given material, he slowly and selectively drops information admitting that he's doing it purposely that way so that it creates the best headlines and not "dilute" the narrative. You see much more journalistic integrity from OAN. A lot of organizations weren't crazy backing Larry Flint on the First Amendment, but you could see a clear case with him. Assange, well, it's not so clear to me. His high and mighty pronouncements would ring a little truer for me if they applied to Russia and other Western-unfriendly countries.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Tork on Friday July 09 2021, @11:00PM (3 children)
Sitting between your chair and keyboard.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:08PM (2 children)
Oooh, cutting deep I see. Better mod down quick before a heretical opinion can be seen.
Please at least try to argue against ANY of my points, or at least point out your reasons for wanting to lionize him.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:09AM
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Tork on Saturday July 10 2021, @04:19AM
Sir, I did argue one of your points.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:25PM
That's not something the government should decide, or the freedom of the press becomes meaningless.
Even if that is true, he's not a US citizen and has never even been to the US, so it doesn't matter.
It's pretty clear. If the US government can imprison someone (a foreigner, no less) for leaking materials demonstrating US war crimes, then press freedoms are in great peril. Many journalistic organizations around the world are demanding Assange be freed, because otherwise a terrible precedent will be set.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @12:07AM (2 children)
Espionage is not illegal under US law, except for the UCMJ. And a precondition is that information is given to an "enemy state". There technically is only an "enemy state" if there is a legally declared state of war. US has not declared war since 1941, and the use of force in international relations is banned by the United Nations Charter of 1945. Only a rogue nation would try to snatch a citizen of another nation and try them for non-crimes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @03:14AM (1 child)
Yeah but we're the good guys. See the difference?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @12:19AM
We haven't been the good guys since we sided with the bad guys in the early 40s.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:29AM (1 child)
Whereas Mothertucker Carslon is a truthful journalist?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @05:53AM
That or muffertucker.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 10 2021, @09:50AM
You know, I wonder this myself constantly with our current media. Propagandist used to be a term reserved for media that are manipulative and highly subjective, trying to convince you of theri point of view instead of simply stating what is and allowing you to come to conclusions instead of predetermine them. Care to point to any media outlet that isn't propaganda these days?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 10 2021, @10:06AM
There is no distinction in the constitution between "citizens" and "press". Anyone with the money was allowed to purchase the equipment, and start their own newspaper in 1776. It is not government's function to license, or to authorize, or to certify a newspaper, a reporter, a journalist, or press "credentials".
Today, we are all aware that publishing costs have plummeted. It costs almost nothing to publish a news column. You can go to one of several sites, start a blog, and start publishing news articles, op-eds, fashion column, classified ads, sports, comics, and whatever else you feel is necessary for a "newspaper". You probably can't do it all for free, exactly, but it's dirt cheap in comparison to the 1900s. There is no requirement for a $500,000 printing press, or a quarter million dollar inventory of paper, a stock of ink, etc etc.
If you want to be a member of the press, you can be, right now, today, before the sun sets.
Hiring a small staff of reporters would be your biggest expense. Each hire would probably add a bit of "legitimacy" to your press status. (there's probably an algorithm for that)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:35AM (1 child)
GITMO isnt supermax is it?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 10 2021, @10:10AM
Actually, I think Gitmo is above and beyond SuperMax. How many prisons are surrounded by a battalion of United States Marines, with a fleet of Navy destroyers on call? If you're planning on breaking out of a prison, Alcatraz would be a cakewalk, compared to Gitmo.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by inertnet on Saturday July 10 2021, @10:55AM
Free speech is for Americans only apparently. I wish the US would spend that kind of money to go after the ransomware gangs and make their lives miserable.
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Saturday July 10 2021, @02:10PM
It's not only about press. If they follow this precedent then anyone in non-US countries could be extradited for merely perusing some US secret data. Nothing Assange did directly involved any material harm to US and Assange himself by definition isn't subject to US secret information classification. Actual leakers have already been punished, going after Assange too is pure spite and abuse of extradition procedure.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday July 09 2021, @10:47PM (4 children)
Technically, don't all Australians serve time in Australia?
Well, perhaps not the aborigines...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:02PM
Which ones are the jailers?
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @12:01AM (2 children)
the less funny part is Indigenous Australians make up 29% of our prison population or over ten times the non-indigenous rate (2200 vs 200)/100k. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/prisoners-australia/latest-release. [abs.gov.au]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @12:17AM (1 child)
Australia was peopled with criminals, but it turns out the abos were even more criminal... what are the odds?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @08:41PM
Pretty good odds around puritannical christians
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:04PM (2 children)
He'll 'accidentally' jump from the plane on the ride back to America.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:19PM (1 child)
Julian Assange didn't kill himself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 09 2021, @11:36PM
But he did kill John McAfee.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Friday July 09 2021, @11:21PM (2 children)
U.K.: Don't put Julian in ADX, that would make us looking bad
ifwhen we give him to you.U.S.: Sure thing, we can torture him exemplary in another facility...
Is any subdomain of Anglosphere aligned otherwise than pure Lawful Evil?
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @12:32AM
Apparently, given the recent story revealing how much of their evidence supporting the case against him turned out to be sludge-grade crap, I don't think that lawful evil really applies.
Neutral evil, perhaps?
If I were an english judge (and I'm not) and this came before me, I'd point out that their original complaint appears to be largely fabricated, their jurisdiction craptastic, and their promises unsecured. Request denied, go hug a porcupine.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday July 10 2021, @04:50AM
Well, where "rule of law" genuinely applies, one would think it would be lawful neutral. But perhaps/probably more as a policy of omission (good vs. evil) than explicit choice [d20srd.org]:
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:46AM (2 children)
Assange will just get sent to Gitmo where he can await his "fair, but secret, trial" at some indefinite point in the future with the usual disregard the US Gov shows for it's own laws. I seem to recall something about a Right to a speedy and pulic trial in the Bill of Rights.
And of course the US gov always seems to forget that the US Constitution doesn't contain any clause that says it only applies to US Citizens* but in fact is supposed to apply to "The People", PERIOD.
* except in regards to taxes, jury duty, drafts, etc. which are considered duties of a nations Citizens.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @05:56AM
There, FTFY
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @05:58AM
Anyone who was not included in "We, the people" is not considered of The People. This is why systemic racism and CRT.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @01:49AM (2 children)
Don't trust our government. Don't deal with them. Keep on fighting to get to a 3rd country where you might have a chance. It's still good enough for me to post this as AC and not worry too much about them pulling back the thin veil of anonymity and coming for me; but it's not good enough for you. Don't take any deals from the US government.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 10 2021, @11:38PM (1 child)
Really? Most every modern PC, be it Intel or AMD, has the means of being exploited (with Intel it was IME) without your knowledge and can do who knows what.
Except that everything you do is monitored and cached somewhere in a bunker. Everything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 11 2021, @12:20AM
Except that the GP, while being correct in every particular, as he explicitly states in his post is not worth the exposure of that control. But he is likely now on a secret watchlist. As are both you and I.
(Score: 5, Informative) by epitaxial on Saturday July 10 2021, @02:22AM
The US government assured the native Americans they would adhere to the treaties that were signed. We all know how well that turned out.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Sunday July 11 2021, @12:51AM
This is a chance for Biden to better his two predecessors in office. He should immediately pardon Assange and Snowden.
He won't, and we all know it, but it would right two very serious wrongs that the US security state has committed.
In all probability the US security state will not be reined in until Americans do to it what East Germans did to Stasi HQ after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Washington DC delenda est.