Julian Assange Skips Bail, Seeks Refugee Status

[rainbowtokyo]

There is no parole for Federal offences in the USA. Faced with the prospect of up to 40 years jail for a non-violent 'crime', Julian Assange has skipped bail in the UK and gone on the run.

Although those who put up the bail money might feel a bit betrayed, I suspect a lot of Assange's friends are rejoicing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18514726

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is seeking political asylum at Ecuador's London embassy.

The South American country says it is "studying and analysing the request".

Last week, the UK's Supreme Court dismissed Mr Assange's bid to reopen an appeal against extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes.

He fears that if he is sent to Sweden it may lead to him being sent to the US to face charges over Wikileaks for which he could face the death penalty.

Mr Assange denies any wrongdoing.

Swedish authorities have said the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) would intervene if Mr Assange was to face the prospect of "inhuman or degrading treatment or an unfair trial" in the US.

The UK Foreign Office - which said that as Mr Assange was now in the embassy he was "on diplomatic territory and beyond the reach of the police" - added that it would work with Ecuador to resolve the situation.

In 2010, Mr Assange - whose Wikileaks website has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables that embarrassed several governments and international businesses - was briefly offered Ecuadorean residency.

But the offer from the country's deputy foreign minister - who said he was acting because Ecuador wanted to allow Mr Assange to freely present the information he had - was dismissed by President Rafael Correa who said he had not approved it.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Mr Assange over allegations of rape and sexual assault while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture.

The claims were made by two female former Wikileaks volunteers in mid-2010. No charges have been filed.

The Australian anti-secrecy campaigner, who claims the sex was consensual, could still take his case against extradition to the ECHR and has until 28 June to make the move, or extradition proceedings will begin.

Mr Assange is on £200,000 bail which was provided by several high-profile supporters including socialite Jemima Khan and Ken Loach, who each offered £20,000 as surety.

'Minimum guarantees'

In a statement, Ecuador's embassy in London said Mr Assange arrived there on Tuesday afternoon to seek asylum.

"As a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights, with an obligation to review all applications for asylum, we have immediately passed his application on to the relevant department in Quito," it said.


Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Mr Assange had claimed he was being persecuted
"While the department assesses Mr Assange's application, Mr Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorean government."

It said the decision to consider the bid for asylum "should in no way be interpreted as the government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden".

Ecuador would seek the views of the governments of the UK, Sweden and the US before making its decision, it added.

Mr Assange issued a statement, saying he was "grateful to the Ecuadorean ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application".

Associated Press quoted Ecuador foreign minister Ricardo Patino as telling reporters Mr Assange had written to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa saying he was being persecuted.

Mr Assange feared Sweden would not protect him from being extradited to "a foreign country that applies the death penalty for the crime of espionage and sedition," Mr Patino said.

Labour peer and human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said she understood his Swedish lawyers had warned him that if extradited to their country - which had been expected imminently - he would be handed over to the US at the conclusion of the sexual assaults investigation.

But she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In international law, a country to which a person is surrendered should only deal with him on the offences for which he has been surrendered and, at the moment it's finished, he should be allowed to exit that country."

If Sweden could provide such an undertaking, it was likely Ecuador would be happy to let Mr Assange proceed there, she added.

'Organised campaign'
Jemima Khan, one of several supporters to help put up Mr Assange's £200,000 bail, said on Twitter that she had expected him to face the allegations, adding: "I am as surprised as anyone by this".

Baroness Kennedy said that, as it was known exactly where Mr Assange was, his supporters would have a strong argument for getting their money back because bail was usually put up to prevent flight or to ensure attendance at court.

Vaughan Smith, a friend who allowed Mr Assange to stay at his Norfolk home until December 2011, told the BBC he was surprised by the move but understood why he may have decided to seek asylum.

"There's been an organised campaign to undermine him," Mr Smith said, "and he believed that if he was sent to Sweden he would be sent to America."

Wikileaks has posted an alert on its Twitter feed: "ALERT: Julian Assange has requested political asylum and is under the protection of the Ecuadorean embassy in London."

[rainbowtokyo]

Before he serves any jail-time in the USA, the master-plan was for him to serve a few years imprisonment in Sweden's delightful prison system.

This is one of the nastiest witch-hunts I've seen in recent times. Totally reprehensible that Assange's own country, 'Straya, has done nothing to help him.

Run Julian Run - you've got nothing to lose!

[hennagaijin]

Do the crime - do the time.

If he raped girls in Sweden and broke federal U.S. laws, he knew he was breaking them and must take the consequences.

If he is innocent he should go to trial and be found innocent.

Running away is a wimp's reaction.

(Of course, the tinfoil hat people will support anything he does and say all charges are just part of some conspiracy.. reality can be so boring..)

[rainbowtokyo]

Do the crime - do the time. If he raped girls in Sweden and broke federal U.S. laws, he knew he was breaking them and must take the consequences.

Assange deserves a break. He hasn't done anything violent. Even his so-called accusers in Sweden have not accused him of that. The only 'accusation' is that he refused to wear a condom during consensual sex.

The likelihood of 40 years jail-time in a US federal prison, without the possibility of parole, is way too excessive. The people who leaked the Pentagon Papers didn't spend a day in prison. Where's the justice in chasing Assange and letting so many other whistleblowers go free?

If he is innocent he should go to trial. Running away is a wimp's reaction.

Trial in what kind of kangaroo court? In another age, this man volunteered to stand trial. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinus_van_der_Lubbe

[TJrandom]

It is telling that Sweden's prosecutor refused to interview him in London - indicating that they have no interest in the sex case, but instead are playing the US game of catch and pass on. I don't believe the US has a warrant on him either - so it seems to me that the FBI is just planning a kidnapping.

[edin日本]

Do the crime - do the time.

If he raped girls in Sweden and broke federal U.S. laws, he knew he was breaking them and must take the consequences.

If he is innocent he should go to trial and be found innocent.

Running away is a wimp's reaction.

(Of course, the tinfoil hat people will support anything he does and say all charges are just part of some conspiracy.. reality can be so boring..)

I'm not sympathetic to Assange's cause but, I am very unsympathetic towards any undertaking of the current or future US governments to meddle in the laws and legal venues of other countries.

Things like this are becoming more common http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...-arrested.html
His only crime was to sell Canadian drugs in the US at prices that undercut US sellers.

[rainbowtokyo]

The justice system in the US is vindictive, arbitary and totally mad.

The soldier who released the video footage of "Collateral Damage" to Wikileaks looks like serving a life term. No parole allowed for Federal crimes. He is in his early 20s. He will probably never be released.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...military-judge

Here's a copy of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0

The video itself is part and parcel of war. But make up your own minds as to whether the release of something as harmless as this should put a man in jail for the rest of his life.

For sure, he broke the law. But life in prison for something as harmless as this is heavy handed, to say the least.

[Effected After]

Do the crime - do the time.

If he raped girls in Sweden and broke federal U.S. laws, he knew he was breaking them and must take the consequences.

I agree that he should be tried for the Swedish girls - he was in Sweden and he potentially committed a crime. However, I don't think the Americans have any right to persecute (not a misspelling) him. He isn't an American citizen, therefore he cannot have committed treason against America. I don't see that stopping them from trying to persecute him though.

His claim is that they have a secret warrant out that they are keeping hidden until he is in Sweden. Who knows if it's a tinfoil hat theory or not, but it's definitely plausible, especially considering the Americans have kidnapped citizens of other countries in the past.

[thefg]

It is telling that Sweden's prosecutor refused to interview him in London - indicating that they have no interest in the sex case, but instead are playing the US game of catch and pass on. I don't believe the US has a warrant on him either - so it seems to me that the FBI is just planning a kidnapping.

+1


im surprised they didnt suggest he had WMDs in his lunchbox or use one of their other stock excuses to commit a crime.

the whole rape thing was BS from the start they just wanted to f_ck him and they did.

dont blame him for running

im not pro what hes doing with wiki leaks but hell their behavior is kind of proving his point isnt it

[ozzijp]

Before he serves any jail-time in the USA, the master-plan was for him to serve a few years imprisonment in Sweden's delightful prison system.

This is one of the nastiest witch-hunts I've seen in recent times. Totally reprehensible that Assange's own country, 'Straya, has done nothing to help him.

Run Julian Run - you've got nothing to lose!

Reluctantly, have to agree with you on this one RT.

[ozzijp]

im not pro what hes doing with wiki leaks but hell their behavior is kind of proving his point isnt it

Best comment I have heard from you, ever...

to be honest, there wasn't a lot to choose from but this was outstanding.

[thefg]

Best comment I have heard from you, ever...

to be honest, there wasn't a lot to choose from but this was outstanding.

lol

...........................

[rainbowtokyo]

For anyone who is interested: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18518464

Assange has a good working relationship with the Ecuadorian President.

My sympathy to those who posted bail.

[blacksunshine]

I agree that he should be tried for the Swedish girls - he was in Sweden and he potentially committed a crime. However, I don't think the Americans have any right to persecute (not a misspelling) him. He isn't an American citizen, therefore he cannot have committed treason against America. I don't see that stopping them from trying to persecute him though.

His claim is that they have a secret warrant out that they are keeping hidden until he is in Sweden. Who knows if it's a tinfoil hat theory or not, but it's definitely plausible, especially considering the Americans have kidnapped citizens of other countries in the past.

I was under the impression that they weren't accusing him of treason, but rather of espionage.


I think that if he really believes in the point of what he was doing and that these things need to be brought out he should man up and take a stance for what he believes in if he believes he truly did the right thing. Otherwise it seems as though he was doing all of this for show.

[Effected After]

Why can't it be both? They aren't in direct opposition to each other.

[edin日本]

I was under the impression that they weren't accusing him of treason, but rather of espionage.


I think that if he really believes in the point of what he was doing and that these things need to be brought out he should man up and take a stance for what he believes in if he believes he truly did the right thing. Otherwise it seems as though he was doing all of this for show.

I think his big fear is that he'll get the same treatment as the Feds want to give Kim Dotcom. In Assange's case he's being charged with espionage and treason and the process will be arrest, extradition to the United States, show trial, a guilty verdict, sentencing and then execution by firing squad. Of course Sweden and the EU will offer a token expression of protest but, it will be too little and too late.

[guyjeen]

I think his big fear is that he'll get the same treatment as the Feds want to give Kim Dotcom. In Assange's case he's being charged with espionage and treason and the process will be arrest, extradition to the United States, show trial, a guilty verdict, sentencing and then execution by firing squad. Of course Sweden and the EU will offer a token expression of protest but, it will be too little and too late.

Conspiracy theory at its best. Honest journalism has gone under the bus. There is no evidence that there is a grand jury subpeona for JA. It would serve no US interest to have him put on trial in the US. That would just serve to embarrass Obama and his Aussie friends. It would have been very easy for CIA operatives to take him out any time they wanted while he was wining and dining with UK psudo celbs and rich politico wannabes who pretend to be interested in his objectives, while just wanting to share his time in the limelight.

Look, that guy Julian is nothing more than a self serving egotistic blowhard for whom everything is always about him. Even his former cohorts at the founding of wikileaks who he had a falling out with say 'it was always about him' which just proves my point.

Let him rot in the Ecuadorian embassy if he wants. The US as the antichrist theory doesn't fly.

[Hijinx]

Julian Assange is as noble as Steve Irwin. I just hope he doesn't get stung by the barb of U.S. "in"justice.

[rainbowtokyo]

Julian Assange is as noble as Steve Irwin. I just hope he doesn't get stung by the barb of U.S. "in"justice.

Unlike that redneck Irwin, Assange is known for being anti American. He's stuck his neck out too far and its about to be chopped off. Unless he can find his way to Ecuador (or Venezuela perhaps?) he is going to spend the rest of his life in a federal prison without the possibility of parole.

Assange is known for being popular with the ladies. He should make the most of it while he can. Where he is headed, the only sex he will be getting will be from men. For his sake, I hope they issue condoms in federal jails. I don't agree with much of what Assange stands for but I do feel very sorry for him. Being locked up for life for a non violent 'crime' is a bit excessive.

[miramira]

how will he escape from the embassy? he can't sleep there for ever. surely if he's on the shoulders of the embassador they could climb into the diplomatic car, and the cops can't touch him.

in a weird oppossite you know nigeria back in the 1970s and 1980s were kidnapping dissidents and hiding them in cargo containers marked diplomatic cargo, one on them got inspected after they heard the poor chap inside bang to be let out at Heathrow....

hahahaha.