Julian Assange's 10th year in prison.

[Katheryne Helendale]

Being a dick isn't a crime.

No, but it can be a predicate to various crimes.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Being a dick isn't a crime.

It's not, but it's a good reason not to cry for him when he gets in trouble for the actual crimes he committed.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This, from May 20, may explain the latest turn of events.

Essentially, the High Court granted Assange leave to appeal against the deportation order on the grounds that the US government was either unable or unwilling to confirm that he would, as a non-citizen, be able to rely upon the same First Amendment protections as would a US citizen accused of the same offence.

In British extradition law, there's a general ban on extradition in cases where the defendant will be at a disadvantage because of their nationality and also in cases where their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights would be compromised (in this case, freedom of expression, if he couldn't rely on First Amendment protections).

Confronted with the very real possibility that the extradition request would finally be refused by the British courts for reasons that would not reflect well on the US Justice Dept, it may well be that the US decided this has all gone on long enough and threw in their hand.

The High Court judgment makes clear that, had the US prosecutors been prepared to give assurances they wouldn't seek to argue in court that Assange was unable to rely on the same constitutional protections as a US citizen, they'd have allowed the extradition request. These two matters were the only remaining obstacles.

Assange -v- Government of the United States of America - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary

Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 700 (Admin)Case Number: AC-2022-LON-001745 and 1746 In The High Court Of JusticeKing’s Bench DivisionDivisional Court 26 March 2024 Before:President of the King’s Bench Division and Mr Justice Johnson Between:Julian Paul Assange-v-Government of the United...

www.judiciary.uk

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

The details of that deal are quite unusual: Assange will be put before American trial in Saipan at Wednesday this week at 9 am. Saipan belongs to the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a territory of the USA in the Pacific Ocean. This territory has own autonomy and constitution, but a federal US court.

Unless the judge rules otherwise Assange will then be permitted to fly immediately to Australia.

So in other words the USA are making some big admissions here. It's a procedure which is probably satisfactory for both sides: Assange will avoid traveling to mainland USA, while the US attorney later can tell that Assange was finally convicted by an American court.

So it looks like Biden wants to create some facts here which Trump cannot unchange, just in case.

Link to the bill of indictment: https://www.heise.de/downloads/18/4/6/2/0/8/9/6/gov.uscourts.nmid.6474.1.0_2.pdf

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Being a dick isn't a crime.

Outing gay men in a country where homosexuality is punishable by death is not a crime. But it is more than "being a dick" and serves no journalistic purpose.

eta: Providing assistance in breaking into a secure server is also a crime. He was accused of not just waiting for Manning to provide documents to WikiLeaks: he provided access to tools to circumvent security on the systems where those documents were stored. If found guilty those actions are not shielded as a journalist.

 

[Tirellia]

At last the vile little man has gone. I am particularly glad that he wasn't given any opportunity to make any speeches before he was flown out of the country. No doubt people will report on his speeches in Australia but hopefully that's where he's going to remain and eventually we can all forget who he was.