Sweden will request Assange's extradition to stand trial on rape allegations
From RT.com May 13, 2019:
"Sweden’s Director of Public Prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson has confirmed that the country will seek Assange’s extradition. She was announcing that the rape investigation against the WikiLeaks founder has been reopened.The 47-year-old is currently being held at Belmarsh prison in London after he was found guilty of skipping bail and sentenced to 50 weeks in jail. He avoided extradition to Sweden for some seven years by seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, however he was unceremoniously evicted in April and now faces the prospect of extradition to face trial for the decade-old charges.
While some of the original charges have already expired under the Swedish statute of limitations, one key charge of sexual assault remains open until 2020. Swedish prosecutors had sought to bin the case as far back as 2013 but persisted with their inquiries until 2017 owing to pressure from the British government, according to WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson.
Two years ago the case was closed as Swedish authorities “didn’t see any possibilities to advance the investigation forward,” however, in light of Assange’s recent arrest, the case and potential extradition to stand trial for it, are back on the table."
Also via RT.com, May 13: ‘Swedish prosecutor reopens case probing Assange rape allegations’, 13 May, 2019, RT.com
"I have taken the decision to reopen the preliminary investigation,” Persson told reporters at a press conference on Monday, confirming her office’s decision.
"As Mr Assange is currently incarcerated in the UK the circumstances now allow him to be extradited to Sweden on a rape warrant," she added.Persson said that it is up to UK authorities whether the Swedish or US extradition requests take priority.”
That decision seems to up to UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid former managing director of Deutsche Bank.
‘Assange rape case politicized, ‘mishandled throughout’ says WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief’, 13 May, 2019, RT.com
“There has been considerable political pressure on Sweden to reopen their investigation, but there has always been political pressure surrounding this case,” Hrafnsson said in a statement Monday morning, following the announcement by Swedish authorities that the investigation against Julian Assange had been officially reopened.
Hrafnsson added that several key details surrounding the investigation were suspicious after a Swedish prosecutor initially found that “no crime at all” had occurred, after which the case was reopened at the behest of the British authorities.
A Swedish prosecutor also refused to question Assange during his forced exile in the Ecuadorian embassy before eventually being impelled by the courts. Swedish authorities then sought to drop the arrest warrant as early as 2013, Hrafnsson claimed, adding that it was the British government that insisted that the case continue.
The investigation was then closed in 2017 only for it to be reopened shortly after Assange’s arrest in 2019.
Hrafnsson also alleges that he has received reports of Swedish and British authorities destroying documents related to the case, though he did not provide any evidence. He also slammed media reports that Assange had eluded questioning throughout his time in London, insisting that “Assange was always willing to answer any questions from the Swedish authorities and repeatedly offered to do so, over six years.”
The rest will come via Twitter, or at least from twitter because it gets a bit complicated:
Ecuador has been sequestering Assange’s belongings since his arrest. Now we know why: To hand them over to the US in violation of international law. Ecuador’s vile behaviour is not new as they have been sending information on Assange to the US for months.https://t.co/L9e69EEgHR pic.twitter.com/Z6b3CYQcvp
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 12, 2019
From justice4assange.com: 'Note to editors-Sweden; The “Swedish Allegations” concerning Julian Assange: The Facts
Elisabeth Massi Fritz is the attorney for the woman who allegedly wants the case re-investigated. Earlier reports had been that it was Fritz who'd want to reopen the case. from the link:
"Assange’s Swedish lawyer Per E. Samuelson told The Associated Press on Monday that the decision to reopen the rape case is “outrageous.”
“He is in prison in the U.K., he faces the risk of being extradited to the United States and on top of that, to demand that he’s going to put all his energy into looking into a 10-year-old story from Sweden is just too much,” he said.
But Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer for the woman who reported being raped by Assange, said her client “feels great gratitude” over the decision to reopening the case.
She said it “signals that no one stands above the law,” and that “the legal system in Sweden doesn’t give a special treatment to anyone.”
Persson said a European arrest warrant will be issued for Assange. A Swedish court would formally issue the extradition request, which Assange could appeal.
Massi Fritz plays no formal role in the case. Her role is to interface with media. She has an economic incentive to reopen the case. Her reputation is in tatters after 16 ex-employees denounced her for fraud and harrassment, leading to an investigation by the bar association. https://t.co/L0aDiML9Bh
— Hanna Jonasson (@AssangeLegal) May 13, 2019
It's amazing that the new Swedish prosecutor is now suggesting conducting a video-interview. Something that Assange asked for already in September 2010, but back then, the old prosecutor Marianne Ny lied that it was illegal. pic.twitter.com/44Nyde5xqY
— Gugge (@gugge_) May 13, 2019
myself, i think craig murray has one blind spot: Sweden has never guaranteed Assange wouldn't be sent directly to Amerika.
The Re-Opening of the Swedish Assange Case Should Be Welcomed | by @CraigMurrayOrghttps://t.co/hpN6PakMbv
— Hanna Jonasson (@AssangeLegal) May 13, 2019
(click for larger to read the texts)
Elizabeth #MassiFritz (#Sweden's ex-prime minister's family lawyer) needs to explain why her client insisted so vehemently in text messages in Aug 2010, which police retrieved from her phone, that #Assange was innocent of any crime. https://t.co/uVyz0gIdNn pic.twitter.com/rXTbOlR60L
— Bella Magnani (@BellaMagnani) May 13, 2019
(only slightly redundant)
Sweden will seek to question Assange while he is at Belmarsh via videolink. But the prosecutor has already said that she intends to re-file a European Arrest Warrant. Brexit will not impact the functioning of the EAW.
— Hanna Jonasson (@AssangeLegal) May 13, 2019
Comments
Political prosecution
The older a rape case is, the staler it gets. They dropped the case before. Why re-open it now? Politics.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
yeppers.
and money for the attorny, according to hannah jonnason. i cannae find it now, but one piece i'd read had quoted Persson as saying that the woman was elated that she might finally get restitution. now it may have lost something in translation, and she may have said 'resolution, but restitution implies money, no?
guess it's a small wonder, but this news is absolutely everywhere this a.m., and i can just imagine how er...slanted...most coverage is. crap, i'd forgotten to check at the grauniad to see if luke harding were allowed to cover it.
on edit: nope, not luke the boy wonder, but caroline davies, drinkin' the same old koolaid:
but here's the same quote:
really? i'd missed that; i' file it under: be careful what you wish for...
18 Months...
Hmm...let's see.
18 months from now will be ...
Mid-November 2020!
Sounds like ol' Trumpy doesn't want a redux of the Podesta files leak and is trying to hold Assange hostage in the UK until after election day as insurance.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
ah, you devil,
you. thanks for the reprieve. ; ) my favorite dana carvey personae, church lady.
Is sweden a British colony?
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
from the mouth of
george galloway via RTcom today:
"The reopening of an inquiry into allegations of rape against Julian Assange shows that even a “fading empire” like the US can get what it wants when it is backed by obedient states like the UK & Sweden, says George Galloway.
Former Labour MP George Galloway has told RT that Sweden is even more of a US vassal state than Britain. He believes attempts to get to the truth of rape allegations against the WikiLeaks co-founder are not genuine."
Once upon a long time ago, I had
a lot of respect for Sweden (like 50 plus years ago) That's completely gone. I also can't understand how Australia lets his own citizen hanging in a foreign countries' embassy or prison and not doing anything to help Assange. The world is ruled by criminal mobsters and oligarchs and it has to stop.
Can't even find more words to say.
https://www.euronews.com/
every new piece of
the war on assange is close to 'words are just too inadequate', ma soeur. i'm not getting the thinking of those of his allies who believe that opening the case again...might put it to rest. as i recall, it was 'torn condom girl' who may want to change her testimony (testily?), and there's zero likelihood that appeals or demands that he not be airmailed straight to gitmo or supermax florence, colorado.
but yeah, that sweden is so easy to yield to pressure on julian is harsh indeed. but see if i can figure out what the tweeties on mama assange's accounts are, but at first blush, the two even contradicted the other.
id been trying to find jen robinson's
interviews with sky news, and in one she talks about the possibility of the swedish prosecutor
re-opening the case. thi is one part, but in a compilation i'd sent to an erstwhile friend saying he should just go face the charges, there was this pdf about the 1961 extradition cooperation between the US and sweden. and...oy, i've lost the link for now, but 'rape' was on the list/.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=89&v=wpwyMu3PsUg]
on edit: here's the 1961 US/Sweden extradition treaty pdf, but i may have just found contradictory info on mama assange's twitter account. i'll add it below.
In Assange's case, the crime of rape is defined as...
having consensual sex and not telling your partner you are not wearing a condom.
Kinda broadens the definition a bit, no?
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
weren't the allegations
that he'd had sex with them while they were asleep? but at least they both had wanted to compel aids tests, with which he'd complied while he was in sweden (hope i'm remembering that correctly).
then 'rape' became 'sexual assault', and tra la la.
Here are the allegations..
Guardian:
Per theSo Miss A claims Assange tried to coerce her into unprotected sex, but once he agreed to protected sex, she consented, but then the condom tore (which she claims he did on purpose, thus triggering the charges).
Then came Miss W.
Assange has bad but consensual sex with the woman hosting him, they apparently decide to not have any more sex, and then hooks up with a different woman (Miss W) the next day.
Even assuming Miss W is telling the truth about being asleep, there are no indications that she withheld her consent once she woke up. The sleep issue (even if true) is a red herring and is not directly related to the charges based of unprotected consensual sex.
And yeah, not Assange's finest moment by any stretch, but not 'rape' by the definition we typically associate that crime with.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
thank you for
reminding me/us of all of that additional hilarity cum satirical testimony, but i'll add that when they'd forensically examined said torn condom, there was no dna evidence on it. is that how you remember it?
i'll freely admit, mine eye are too crap to even see the texts in the OP when enlarged. sorry if i'm blathering; i'm not sleeping well and i need to lie down and try for a bit o' REM sleep with nightmares or dreams.
The unfiltered backstory...
is even more interesting, although a lot of the sourcing comes from right wing websites with their own axes to grind.
Justin Rainomdo of Anti-War (IMO a fairly credible writer albeit with a right wing slant) had a nice piece on all this if you're interested.
Here's the kicker: even in Sweden, what Assange did isn't actually a crime.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
This is interesting
I've never read this story before, but others that were less inflammatory and far different. I'm wondering if the truth will ever come out because after the first interview with Assange he was cleared to leave Sweden. If the first one is true you'd think that they would have wanted to hold on to him longer became that does sound like something that could be punishable. But the fact that both women continued partying with him adds more bewilderment to the story.
I read that after the case was closed it was opened again after Britain put pressure on the prosecutor. Then it was closed again two years ago. But Assange said that he was always willing to go to Sweden if they would guarantee that he wouldn't be extradited here. The refused to say they wouldn't.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
yes.
Caitlin has some good info on the rape charges and women
This one discusses lots of what happened before during and after.
Assange Smear 2: “He’s a rapist.”
Naomi Klein on it
J’Accuse: Sweden, Britain, and Interpol Insult Rape Victims Worldwide
Caitlin
People Who Publicly Fret About Assange Rape Allegations Are Lying
Yep pretty much.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Her whole mega piece...
is a marvel and should be everyone's go-to guide for all matters Assange.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
it's a great compendium,
and tracks with what i know, and she adds a couple things i hadn't known. i didn't watch the link to the video, but weren't nye's emails discovered thru a foia request? perhaps one by stefania maurizi?
zounds, i'll read his whole
exposé later, but oddly, i'd just mentioned raimondo yesterday on the boards as one of the Great and antiwar Libertarians. youch on the back-story.
OK, well, maybe I was wrong about those women
and they're a couple of soulless spooks. Doesn't add up with the frantic 2010 phone messages from the one saying that he wasn't guilty, though. Or am I misremembering that?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Anna is probably a spook.
Sophia seems more likely to be an Assange groupie (I am told there are such women) who Anna exploited to set the trap.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Railroaded...
Caitlin says....
Seems pretty clear AA was driving the train on this railroad.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
this morning my
eyes are better than sometimes, the morning light's good, so i'd clicked to enlarge the texts between the two women again, and this is fascinating (but you might want to check out the rest shown yourself); the second one i've paraphrased to shorten it:
on aug, 26 AA wrote to SW that they ought to sell their stories to a newspaper.
on aug 28 and SW wrote that their lawyer had negotiated with the largest tabloid newspaper
and the one admitted she wasn't asleep at all, and the sex had gotten better. ; )
Sometimes I remember the way things used to be
and my mind just reels at how far public discourse has sunk. My reason rebels at the fact that we're supposed to take any of this seriously.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
i wonder if we
even knew how things used to be (before the internet). history, as it's said...belongs to the victor. and my stars, finding alternate versions of the histories we were told keep blowin' my mind.
I remember my own life well enough
to know that this is not the way things used to be.
One way I keep my memory of public discourse alive is by remembering what people were saying in (presidential) election years, because presidential elections tend to make Americans talk politics. Thus, you can figure out how Americans approach politics by remembering the discussions and debates they had in relation to presidential elections. In 2004, even in 2008, these fabricated charges would have been treated with the contempt they deserved by at least half of the country.
but then, in 2004 or 2008, we still asked which policies presidential candidates embraced, instead of just asking what kinds of scandals they were involved in and which of them could beat the illimitable evil of the other party.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
these charges, perhaps
yes to that. i ran campaigns for D candidates for decades, and saw a hella lotta smear by innuendo that was repeated often enough that it stuck. and i'm certainly not thinking of 'willie horton' sort of stuff. but modern debates are more akin to press conferences, with candidates usually not permitted to speak more than 5 mins. on any pre-arranged questions.
but now i see that we were talking past one another...i see what you'd meant.
Debates have certainly changed.
1988...the year the League of Women Voters stopped hosting the debates in disgust.
Do you remember when third-party candidates could just get into the debates automatically? I remember John Anderson on the stage with Reagan and Jimmy Carter at the 1980 debates. That was when we had actual politics. Not always good politics, certainly, sometimes horrendous politics, but it was real. It's been getting increasingly farcical over time.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Sounds like somewhat caddish behavior
(not to mention thinking with the wrong head at the wrong time, because he KNEW TPTB were out to get him). But behaving like a cad, while reprehensible, is not illegal in most semi-reasonable jurisdictions.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
i can't disagree
with that formula myself. but they'd played the same game with him multiple times, which is no excuse for thinking with his little head. no: check that: letting his little head rule and NOT thinking.
Guess if you wanna publish major embarrassing stuff,
especially if it flashes the dirty linen of the US of A, you should either be solidly married to a spouse you would trust with your life, or take a serious oath of celibacy. They CAN use sex against you, and they WILL. (That trick is Older Than Print, considering the infamous example of Delilah.... )
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
i certainly disagree
with that formula for any number of reasons, but especially that your enemies can make shit up, and still it sells. but now i what you'd meant about caddish behavior and 'publishing embarrassing stuff'. i don't really fault anyone for having sex, and julian wasn't married.
My guess? I bet those women wish heartily that they'd never
walked into a police station. Supposedly the original charge was not "he forced me to have sex" but "he refused to use a condom" and the desired result was not "put that rapist in jail!" but "make that asshole take an STD test."
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
From the first article I link below
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Not only is it not illegal--
but in order for something to BE a legal offense, it has to be illegal under a system of laws which exists as part of a sovereign nation-state or else as an offense against international law.
So let's say Assange had committed some offense against Swedish law. That might have something to do with Sweden, or it might have something to do with Australia, since he is an Australian citizen. It has next to nothing to do with Britain, which is grasping at the legal straw of evading arrest so they can have an excuse to jail him, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the United States, against whose laws he has committed no offense whatsoever. I know what they're *saying* he did, and it's obvious that they're trying to gin up a handy offense so they can get their hands on him, all of which is being done retroactively. Years passed with no hint from USGov that they thought Assange helped Manning take that data. They've just figured out, finally, that it'll be easier for them to get their grimy hands on him if they can say that he was more than a publisher.
Chelsea Manning blows my mind. What a pillar of strength.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
well, here they are:
i dunno; can you get what aloysha's claiming? anyhoo, from mama assange:
This country renditioned lots of people
to countries were it wasn't illegal to torture people. This is just one more spot to the stain that covers this country. How many innocent people were renditioned for torture only to have been found innocent of all charges? Way too many of course. One is too many.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
the president i remember
most sincerely on that charge was obomba, and right on the cover of the new york times. after he'd claimed with a serious face: the united states does not torture, one of his underlings had said: whoosh; you're about to put us out of the torture bidness. so...he offered a new defintion: we'll send them on whistle-stop tours to black sites, but they'll only 'visit' for X number of days. problem solved. 'we don't torture, they do it for us.'
i could hunt down the link, but iirc it began with expressing concern about the 'agony' of his Terror Tuesdays' drone assassinations, perhaps first in afghanistan. meanwhile, the bureau of investigative journalists UK kept as close a count as they were able as to the count, bless their hearts. names, when known, ages, locations, photos...some of the hardest blogging i ever did or will do.
when i'd learned that the approximate ages of the assassinated chirren could only be reckoned by the sizes of their wee rubber zoris...i knew i'd never be the same again. dayum, here come the tears again...
Shameful.
Thanks, Wendy, for keeping us apprised.
welcome,
amigo. they just keep pourin' buckets of merde on his poor, beleaguered head, don't they?
but i'd forgotten to put this up for snoopy dawg; in her honor until she clicks in:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25EWUUBjPMo]
there's a longer 17 minute wikileaks version, but one needs to sign in to see it.
When left to grow
not disarmament but the empire
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
too apropos
for this and the iran war drumbeats thread. for a second i'd wondered which thread i was on. whooosh. god damn amerika! (obama's former preacher (rev. jeremiah wright?) whom he'd thrown under the bus when it was electorally pragmatic to do so...)
So which is it? Was she raped or not?
Open the case. Close it. Open it again.
Which is it?
Sorry, is that not #MeToo enough of me?
If Assange had raped someone, that would have to be the easiest rape charge to bring in the history of history; the most powerful people in the world would like him to be a criminal, which would then justify them treating him badly. It's basically the same mechanism as the idea of the black thug: if you show that a black man is a thug, you can then justify imprisoning him, torturing him, blowing his head off while he's unarmed on his knees, strangling him while he pleads for breath, etc. That's why character assassination is so necessary. If you can prove somebody is a Bad Man, their human rights miraculously disappear, like a rabbit in a hat. Presto!
No woman accusing Assange of rape would ever have to worry about getting the red dress treatment. It would be more like the red carpet treatment.
This nine-year-long on again off again feeds Sweden's credibility through a shredder.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I don't read stuff about personal sex-related issues
but that lady that claims to be raped has not been raped but bought, imho. That doesn't mean that he could have had some weird attitudes with women that could be interpreted as rape. But as everybody knows it takes two to tango. And there are a lot of bad dancers out there.
Forget the whole shit. Not worth a dime. They are not after Assange, because he allegedly has raped someone. That is too ridiculous to even talk about.
https://www.euronews.com/
Ridiculous, isn't it?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
sorry that wasn't meant to offend you
just a general 'you'.
It's not where you go, it's who you travel with.
https://www.euronews.com/
I wasn't offended. Not by you, anyway.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
no, he hadn't
them. but as far as #MeToo, the guardian had carried a piece a while ago about 70 MPs who wanted him tried in sweden because 'rape culture shouldn't be minimized'. i'll see if i can find it, i don't have the words right. but allegedly they'd been putting pressure on the home secretary. here it is.
meanwhile, esp. cuz i love arundhati roy witlessly:
Come on. Let’s get serious about this.
Not only did he skateboard in the embassy during his imprisonment there, he was also a bad lay.
lol.
not to mention he'd smeared feces on the walls in the embassy, and wouldn't take care of his kitty-cat (the cat who spied for him).
may i drop this only slightly OT tweet of chelsea's off here?
LMAO
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Back in he day it only went to bashing
https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=32152116
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
That bit where Ecuador handed over his belongings to the U.S.
is vile. How can anyone give any credibility to any of this? The crime isn't a crime. The prosecution isn't a legal prosecution. The asylum, apparently, ceased to be a real asylum once Correa was no longer president. And, the cherry on top of this sundae made of sewage, Assange's belongings apparently are not his own private property and are protected neither under the laws of Great Britain nor those of Ecuador. The United States' desire to get its hands on something it can use to gin up another story about Assange trumps all those silly rights, laws, and sovereignty.
Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets, I guess.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
and rafael correa
had needed to flee lenin moreno's political persecution and relocated in (i've forgotten where).
how many crimes have been perpetrated on manning and assange for exposing US war and other crimes?
i'd actually been looking at
RT UK on twitter to see if the special rapporteur on torture had said what condition he and the 'other interlocutors' he'd mentioned had found julian in belmarsh prison. nope, but these. miz poly seems to be either wrong or confused: as i understand it, sweden can extradite julian straight to the US without the permission of the UK, but i sure don't grasp the supplemental extradition treaty dr. aloysha brooks mentioned in her tweet. dunno quite how to bingle for that treaty.
on edit: i found it, but it's Greek to me: ‘Supplement to United States Extradition Treaty with Sweden (1984)’
anyhoo, this one then kristinn, yessir, saying he hopes that the UK will prioritize the swedish extradition request.
Sweden was the original plan
And has now become the insurance, backup plan in the event something in UK were to go sideways, such as someone coming into power w a moral conscience.
Assange always knew and was right (about Sweden) except of course for Ecuador that couldn’t last forever when power traded hands.
it was thought that if
jeremy corbin were elected UK PM, it would make a difference to julian's fate, and at one time it might have, but then this:
Corbyn shows his true colors.
Yes, that was what ‘we’ had hoped for
And also why some of us thought there had been a big rush to have him arrested before the changing of the guard, but alas, apparently not.
Major disappointment.
george galloway
agrees with you, serena.
i'd played hooky from this thread early last night
in order to watch an episode of Les Miserables on pbs. the metaphor that had occurred to me was: Publish a borrowed loaf of bread...and Inspector Javert will dedicate his life to seeing you chained and in prison.
it's hard to think of a closing song, so i'll go with the same one i used on the Iran War Drums post. from boots riley and the coup's 'strange arithmetic'. the lyrics are here. g' night.
History has taught me some strange arithmetic
Using swords, prison bars, and pistol grips
English is the art of bombing towns
While assuring that you really only blessed the ground
Teacher, my hand's up
Please, don't make me a victim
Teachers, stand up
You need to tell us how to flip this system
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QSLlCCXfmw]
And along those same lines...
“Keep your hands off of my stack, Jack”
[video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U]
had to look up the lyrics
Money, it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
Giving none away, away, away
ain't it the truth, especially in the present financial climate.
The same lyric coincidently or not...
Appears in both Pink Floyd songs.
[video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cpbbuaIA3Ds]
; )
i got this from @assangelegal on twitter,
but if stefania says in the clip what she writes above it, i didn't hear it:
via wikileaks on twitter:
One Year Ago: UK prosecutors admit destroying key emails in Julian Assange case’, Correspondence between CPS and its Swedish counterparts about WikiLeaks founder deleted after lawyer retired in 2014, the guardian