Assange Watch

frank_begbie · Post by **frank_begbie** » 12 Oct 2015, 18:17

£12 million down the drain, and this covert survaillance won't cost buttons.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 19 Oct 2015, 18:58

Another little twist:
https://www.rt.com/uk/319074-assange-em ... yk.twitter

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 19 Oct 2015, 19:45

biffvernon wrote:Another little twist:
https://www.rt.com/uk/319074-assange-em ... yk.twitter

Wow.

So it wasn't Sweden who was acting as the US poodle. It was the UK, again.

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 19 Oct 2015, 20:56

Which is really why he would have been best going to Sweden.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 19 Oct 2015, 21:45

johnhemming2 wrote:Which is really why he would have been best going to Sweden.

Not a safe conclusion to draw. It might be correct, but might not. He may well still have made the correct decision and be in the best position possible at this point.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 24 Dec 2015, 01:17

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/d ... llegations

Swedish prosecutors will shortly submit a new request to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy in London over rape allegations, the Prosecution Authority has said.

On Sunday, the Quito government said Ecuador and Sweden had signed a pact after half a year of negotiations that would allow Assange to be questioned at the embassy, where he has been holed up for more than three years.

Assange, 44, took refuge there in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he committed rape in 2010, which he denies.

Assange says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States, where he could be put on trial over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified military and diplomatic documents five years ago, one of the largest information leaks in US history.

Swedish prosecutors, who first asked to interview the Australian computer programmer in June, said in a statement that when the necessary permits and arrangements were ready the chief prosecutor, Ingrid Isgren, and a police investigator would question Assange, but that it was not clear when this would happen.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 20 Jan 2016, 22:03

"Assange to answer Sweden’s questions ‘in days’ – Ecuadorian President"

https://www.rt.com/news/329616-assange- ... ign=chrome

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 03 Feb 2016, 13:25

https://www.rt.com/news/330981-assange- ... -announce/

The UN is set to announce whether it will order the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday, the whistleblower site has tweeted.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 04 Feb 2016, 07:28

So it ends on Friday, one way or another.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/f ... estigation

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will agree to be arrested by British police on Friday if a UN investigation into his three-and-a-half years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in central London does not rule that he is being illegally detained.

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy since June 2012, after Swedish authorities sought his extradition. He has not been charged with any offence, but has been sought for questioning in Sweden in relation to sexual assault allegations made against by two women against him.

The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention is set to hand down a determination on Assange’s case on Friday morning.

The decision is a last-ditch legal attempt by Assange for a ruling that his detention is arbitrary and unlawful. It rests on a challenge to the European extradition system, his inability to access the benefit of the grant of asylum by Ecuador, and what he argues is his long-term detention.

In a statement issued by WikiLeaks on Twitter, Assange said: “Should the UN announce tomorrow that I have lost my case against the United Kingdom and Sweden, I shall exit the embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal.

“However, should I prevail and the state parties be found to have acted unlawfully, I expect the immediate return of my passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest me.”

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 04 Feb 2016, 09:54

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35490910

UN votes in favour of assange, but I still don't see the UK just holding up its hands and saying 'off you go'.

If nothing else, he will be arrested for breaching bail conditions.

Assange is not going anywhere in a hurry.

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 04 Feb 2016, 10:15

Some international law has legal force in the UK. I don't think this does.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 04 Feb 2016, 12:43

PS_RalphW wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35490910

UN votes in favour of assange, but I still don't see the UK just holding up its hands and saying 'off you go'.

If nothing else, he will be arrested for breaching bail conditions.

Assange is not going anywhere in a hurry.

He can't stay holed up in that embassy any longer. He's been there 3 and half years already. If at the end of the day he's going to be arrested whatever happens - if there are no circumstances whereby he can get to Ecuador - then he'll leave the embassy.

The result may be is arrest by the British authorities and then some attempt to extradite him to the US, but I don't think it is clear how easy that will be. I am not expecting him to just be whisked off to America without a fight. There would be serious political consequences if it happened, anyway. The Americans can't just lock him up like they did Chelsea Manning. And if they do then he will instantly become the most famous political prisoner in the world. If he's got any sense then he'll also have prepared a load of other leaks to be released in the event of his extradition and/or incarceration in the US.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 04 Feb 2016, 13:06

johnhemming2 wrote:Some international law has legal force in the UK. I don't think this does.

A fine example of where the United Nations should trump UK law.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 04 Feb 2016, 15:39

UN to rule in Assange's favour:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35490910

A UN panel has ruled in favour of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after he complained he was "arbitrarily detained", the BBC understands.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 05 Feb 2016, 10:54

For the reasoned and intelligent take on the latest developments, read John Pilger.

The Assange case has never been primarily about allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden. The Stockholm Chief Prosecutor, Eva Finne, dismissed the case, saying, "I don't believe there is any reason to suspect that he has committed rape" and one of the women involved accused the police of fabricating evidence and "railroading" her, protesting she "did not want to accuse JA of anything". A second prosecutor mysteriously re-opened the case after political intervention, then stalled it.