Julian Assange loses extradition appeal at Supreme Court

Julian Assange loses extradition appeal at Supreme Court

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Discussion

rodericb

6,868 posts

128 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Panamax said:
Johnnybee said:
Will the marriage survive now that he is free? They got together when he was under house arrest I think.
Apparently heading for Australia with the kids. Whether they'll all be pleased to be there is a different question,
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/julian-assange-wife-stel...

Still, a whole lot more fortunate than Chelsea Manning.
Who knows what the government in Australia has in store for him. They recently sentenced two whistleblowers to jail for exposing government shenanigans (war crimes in Afghanistan and the "robodebt" debacle).

Bonefish Blues

27,554 posts

225 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
RSTurboPaul said:
tangerine_sedge said:
Bonefish Blues said:
So was he some kind of naïve idealist or a pawn of dark powers or something else entirely?
I think that he was quite naive, enjoyed the limelight, and was used by the Russian state as a useful idiot to "front up" their hacked data and get it published to embarass the West.

He didn't care what information went into the public domain, and more than likely some people died when their identities were compromised because of the data that he unthinkingly released.
Has that ever been confirmed?
R4 interview (with someone from US Dept Homeland Security?) just suggested similar, but names won't ever be named, so who can really know?

tangerine_sedge

4,932 posts

220 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
RSTurboPaul said:
tangerine_sedge said:
Bonefish Blues said:
So was he some kind of naïve idealist or a pawn of dark powers or something else entirely?
I think that he was quite naive, enjoyed the limelight, and was used by the Russian state as a useful idiot to "front up" their hacked data and get it published to embarass the West.

He didn't care what information went into the public domain, and more than likely some people died when their identities were compromised because of the data that he unthinkingly released.
Has that ever been confirmed?
That's what the US government claims, and I can well believe it...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-21/julian-assa...

g4ry13

17,378 posts

257 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
So what happened to the sexual assault / rape charges? Just went away did they?
Standard ploy to try discredit / cancel people. Wouldn't be surprised if it was totally fabricated.

andyA700

2,917 posts

39 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Bonefish Blues said:
RSTurboPaul said:
tangerine_sedge said:
Bonefish Blues said:
So was he some kind of naïve idealist or a pawn of dark powers or something else entirely?
I think that he was quite naive, enjoyed the limelight, and was used by the Russian state as a useful idiot to "front up" their hacked data and get it published to embarass the West.

He didn't care what information went into the public domain, and more than likely some people died when their identities were compromised because of the data that he unthinkingly released.
Has that ever been confirmed?
R4 interview (with someone from US Dept Homeland Security?) just suggested similar, but names won't ever be named, so who can really know?
Would you seriously trust anything, any US government department had to say?

Bonefish Blues

27,554 posts

225 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
andyA700 said:
Bonefish Blues said:
RSTurboPaul said:
tangerine_sedge said:
Bonefish Blues said:
So was he some kind of naïve idealist or a pawn of dark powers or something else entirely?
I think that he was quite naive, enjoyed the limelight, and was used by the Russian state as a useful idiot to "front up" their hacked data and get it published to embarass the West.

He didn't care what information went into the public domain, and more than likely some people died when their identities were compromised because of the data that he unthinkingly released.
Has that ever been confirmed?
R4 interview (with someone from US Dept Homeland Security?) just suggested similar, but names won't ever be named, so who can really know?
Would you seriously trust anything, any US government department had to say?
My equivocal response was intended to be come across that way, sorry if it didn't.

Edited by Bonefish Blues on Wednesday 26th June 10:58

andyA700

2,917 posts

39 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
g4ry13 said:
CoolHands said:
So what happened to the sexual assault / rape charges? Just went away did they?
Standard ploy to try discredit / cancel people. Wouldn't be surprised if it was totally fabricated.
Sweden totally dropped the investigation, no charges or anything. I am glad Julian Assange has been freed, he should never have been in prison in the first place.

Jader1973

4,110 posts

202 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Poor bloke gets released and goes straight to the soulless dump that is Canberra.

Wouldn’t be my first, or even 100,000th, choice of places to go after getting out of prison.

Bonefish Blues

27,554 posts

225 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
andyA700 said:
g4ry13 said:
CoolHands said:
So what happened to the sexual assault / rape charges? Just went away did they?
Standard ploy to try discredit / cancel people. Wouldn't be surprised if it was totally fabricated.
Sweden totally dropped the investigation, no charges or anything. I am glad Julian Assange has been freed, he should never have been in prison in the first place.
Dropped by the Swedish DPP due to the lengthy passage of time and its effect in diminishing the evidence. The complainant's account was noted to be 'coherent, extensive and detailed'

Derek Smith

45,940 posts

250 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Bonefish Blues said:
andyA700 said:
g4ry13 said:
CoolHands said:
So what happened to the sexual assault / rape charges? Just went away did they?
Standard ploy to try discredit / cancel people. Wouldn't be surprised if it was totally fabricated.
Sweden totally dropped the investigation, no charges or anything. I am glad Julian Assange has been freed, he should never have been in prison in the first place.
Dropped by the Swedish DPP due to the lengthy passage of time and its effect in diminishing the evidence. The complainant's account was noted to be 'coherent, extensive and detailed'
The complainant said they did not wish to pursue the case. Despite this, the action continued, almost certainly due to US pressure.

I think, in such cases, the complainant's wishes are inviolable. They've gone through enough and their first consideration should be recovery. To continue with the case was another violation of them.

Far Cough

2,289 posts

170 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
He must have a great brief getting 19 charges dropped to one and a move to Australia..... This won't be the last of it. The US had a massive hard on for him and also long memories !!

Petrus1983

9,030 posts

164 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Who's paying for his private jets?

I agree - not the last of it - maybe they're trying their luck with a different jurisdiction.

RustyMX5

7,888 posts

219 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Petrus1983 said:
Who's paying for his private jets?

I agree - not the last of it - maybe they're trying their luck with a different jurisdiction.
Apparently he's going to be paying for the cost of the flights. I saw that somewhere on the Beeb

RSTurboPaul

10,735 posts

260 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
tangerine_sedge said:
RSTurboPaul said:
tangerine_sedge said:
Bonefish Blues said:
So was he some kind of naïve idealist or a pawn of dark powers or something else entirely?
I think that he was quite naive, enjoyed the limelight, and was used by the Russian state as a useful idiot to "front up" their hacked data and get it published to embarass the West.

He didn't care what information went into the public domain, and more than likely some people died when their identities were compromised because of the data that he unthinkingly released.
Has that ever been confirmed?
That's what the US government claims, and I can well believe it...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-21/julian-assa...
ABC article said:
But on Wednesday, Barrister Clair Dobbin KC, acting for the US, told the court Mr Assange and his WikiLeaks platform were not "ordinary journalists or publishers".

She said Mr Assange had encouraged Manning to "steal" classified documents and that lives had been put at risk by the Australian's decision to "knowingly publish the materials with the names unredacted".

"These are people who had to leave their homes, flee their homelands, because they had been identified in the state department cables," Ms Dobbin told the court.

She said there were "individuals who have subsequently disappeared since the publication of the cables", adding: "Many of them lived in war zones or under oppressive regimes."
I am wondering why they can't just publish the names specifically - they've already been leaked by wikileaks, they have already 'disappeared'... why not name them as individuals needing assistance or suspected to have been killed by undesirable regimes?

Or are they saying that they might be in hiding somewhere? But even if that is the case, presumably nation states already have them on their radar and them 'disappearing' after wikileaks information comes out makes them look suspicious enough to tie them to the wikileaks stuff?

I dunno - I can see both sides of the coin.

Murph7355

38,023 posts

258 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
RSTurboPaul said:
I am wondering why they can't just publish the names specifically - they've already been leaked by wikileaks, they have already 'disappeared'... why not name them as individuals needing assistance or suspected to have been killed by undesirable regimes?

Or are they saying that they might be in hiding somewhere? But even if that is the case, presumably nation states already have them on their radar and them 'disappearing' after wikileaks information comes out makes them look suspicious enough to tie them to the wikileaks stuff?

I dunno - I can see both sides of the coin.
There could be loads of reasons.

Maybe their families would be put in harm's way? Maybe releasing these names would open up other names to risk.

JA's approach was childishly naive at best. The guy's a throbber who cares about nobody but himself and has the nerve to be moralistic when he behaves as he does. Just a shame we couldn't be shot of him sooner.

Don Roque

18,039 posts

161 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
One would hope that, should he not fall victim to some unfortunate accident or health issue, that he will forever be looking over his shoulder for agents of US justice looking to find implement a permanent solution to the risk he poses. People died for his ego-fuelled stunts. Perhaps somewhere, someone will look to settle that score.

RSTurboPaul

10,735 posts

260 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Don Roque said:
One would hope that, should he not fall victim to some unfortunate accident or health issue, that he will forever be looking over his shoulder for agents of US justice looking to find implement a permanent solution to the risk he poses. People died for his ego-fuelled stunts. Perhaps somewhere, someone will look to settle that score.
That seems a strong assertion without direct evidence, going from the previous few posts.

grumbledoak

31,622 posts

235 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Don Roque said:
One would hope that, should he not fall victim to some unfortunate accident or health issue, that he will forever be looking over his shoulder for agents of US justice looking to find implement a permanent solution to the risk he poses. People died for his ego-fuelled stunts. Perhaps somewhere, someone will look to settle that score.
No. I hope Bush, Obama, and Clinton spend some time looking over their shoulders for agents of justice.

But I won't hold my breath.

wombleh

1,826 posts

124 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Murph7355 said:
RSTurboPaul said:
I am wondering why they can't just publish the names specifically - they've already been leaked by wikileaks, they have already 'disappeared'... why not name them as individuals needing assistance or suspected to have been killed by undesirable regimes?

Or are they saying that they might be in hiding somewhere? But even if that is the case, presumably nation states already have them on their radar and them 'disappearing' after wikileaks information comes out makes them look suspicious enough to tie them to the wikileaks stuff?

I dunno - I can see both sides of the coin.
There could be loads of reasons.

Maybe their families would be put in harm's way? Maybe releasing these names would open up other names to risk.

JA's approach was childishly naive at best. The guy's a throbber who cares about nobody but himself and has the nerve to be moralistic when he behaves as he does. Just a shame we couldn't be shot of him sooner.
It might still be classified. They don't necessarily de-classify stuff even after it's leaked all over the Internet.

FMOB

1,174 posts

14 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
It has been a futile exercise, I don't think he has changed anything, has destroyed the lives of others (Snowden, Manning, etc) and wasted 14 years of his own life.

Hopefully he will shut up and live a quiet life but I think he just can't help himself...