I wonder when legacy media journalists are going to start being jailed for doing investigative journalism…
There he faces multiple counts of computer misuse and espionage stemming from his work with WikiLeaks, publishing sensitive US government documents provided by Chelsea Manning. The US government has repeatedly claimed that Assange’s actions risked its national security.
For the High Court appeal, it is expected Assange’s legal team will once again argue the extradition would be oppressive and that the American assurances are inadequate. A recent statement by Alice Edwards, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, supports their argument that extradition could lead to treatment “amounting to torture or other forms of ill-treatment or punishment”. She rejected the adequacy of American assurances, saying:
They are not legally binding, are limited in their scope, and the person the assurances aim to protect may have no recourse if they are violated.
I don’t believe you read the case carefully or understood it thoroughly. The issue doesn’t arise from his profession of being a journalist, as he is considered a publisher. The problem lies in the fact that he assisted Manning with an illegal hack rather than simply publishing the material. If he were just a publisher, would he have fled and sought refuge in an embassy?
Why does the US have any jurisdiction at all? This isn’t an American citizen. He didn’t do any of his supposed crimes in the USA. What right do they have?
A country’s laws can be violated by a foreign national, from outside the country.
When this happens within the country, there are plenty of examples of people being convicted for violating local law when visiting. When this happens they get arrested and trialed according to local law.
When it happens from outside or if the perpetrator leaves the country, the country can ask the country that the perpetrator is in for extradition. That can be their home country, or simply another country that they happen to be in.
It is then up to that country’s legal system whether to grant that extradition. Most countries will have laws and policies around when extradition can be granted, and if it is, they will then arrest the individual and hand them over to the country requesting their extradition for trial.
So, by default, they have every right as long as a person is within their borders. And when they aren’t, they can ask for the right. And they are. The government of the other country can then give them the right to uphold their rule of law over this one specific individual.
Assanges whole ordeal has been about whether the countries harbouring him will grant the extradition requested by the US, or properly grant him asylum instead. Ecuador did for a while, but withdrew that and allowed him to be arrested by UK law enforcement. Which they could do because he breached bail on the EU arrest warrant issued by Sweden, valid in the UK due to their membership at the time.
Whether he’d be in the clear within the borders of his home country, isn’t relevant, because that’s not where he is.
Thanks for taking the time to explain this well.
Oh my god, you’ve figured out how spies can avoid prosecution in countries they spy in: don’t be a citizen! Now when they get arrested they can say that they aren’t citizens and so jurisdiction falls to a different country! Police hate this one trick.
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That’s an extremely dangerous line of thought. I’m certain that I do things every day, both IRL and online, that are against the laws of many countries. Easy examples would be Iran, China, Russia, Israel, and many others. However, I am not (and have never been) within their borders, and their laws do not apply to me.
Is the only thing stopping them from enforcing their laws upon me, that my own government does not want to appease them? What if there are diplomatic/policy shifts? Do we end up in a situation where the most awful countries have ruling power over everyone?
You don’t live in the EU, do you? Hack into the government of Germany’s computer system and tell the FBI they can’t extradite you there because you are a US citizen and Germany has no jurisdiction.
You clearly misunderstood what I said.
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The illegal hack charge was dropped, due to no evidence of said hack…
That is why they are going after him for “sensitive information” and risk of “national security”.
would he have fled and sought refuge in an embassy
Once the US military industrial complex wants you they will do anything to hurt you, Edward Snowden had to go to Russia since the US military and their lackeys made it really difficult for him from going anywhere else aside from Russia…
Per the link you just posted, emphasis mine:
Instead, federal officials accused Assange of violating a very different law when he allegedly conspired with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to try to break the password of a government computer and gain access to its secrets. It is unclear from the indictment whether Assange succeeded in breaking the password.
He’s charged with conspiracy, not actually helping her.
Ok then, I guess he never accessed the government computer or put any of those accessed documents on WikiLeaks. Thanks for figuring the case out. Please notify the proper authorities and everyone can go home now. Guess Assange didn’t have to go run and hide.
He was originally fleeing rape charges in Sweden so yeah, he still would have had to hide.
The problem lies in the fact that he assisted Manning with an illegal hack rather than simply publishing the material.
That’s simply not true. He’s not even charged with helping her, he’s charged with conspiracy.
I posted the indictment, you should read it.
I just linked you to the indictment.
I get it. You’re not reading what was done. The conspiracy was helping him access the computer. Do you think Assange ran and sought asylum for shits and giggles?
He sought Asylum because America is a Fascist state that jails journalists which show the truth.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
For more info here’s Journalists telling you the same
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
So I actually read it, manning provided classified documents, including a hashed password which passage couldn’t crack. No hack actually happened, though assange did try (according to the dod, very trustworthy source, they never lie)
I don’t believe you understand that imprisonment in the US would be considered torture in test if the world, because it would. There are no laws are policies that protect anyone in federal prison.
There are no laws are policies that protect anyone in federal prison.
- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
- The Service shall supervise and furnish medical treatment and other necessary medical, psychiatric, and related technical and scientific services, authorized by section 4005 of title 18, in penal and correctional institutions of the United States.
- No government shall impose a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an institution, as defined in section 1997 of this title, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless the government demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person— (1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on the Federal Bureau of Prisons released earlier this month found that 344 inmates died, the majority due to suicide or homicide, in federal institutions between 2014 and 2021. Other deaths were categorized as accidental or unknown, many of which involved drug overdoses, according to the report.
As of October, about 12,000 people were placed in restrictive housing across all federal prisons. People placed in restrictive housing typically spend at least 22 hours a day in a locked cell.
From a decade ago https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/new-report-confirms-solitary-confinement-federal-prisons-largely-unchecked
From Dick Durbin
According to GAO’s report, as of October 2023, BOP was housing about eight percent of its prison population in restrictive housing, or “solitary confinement.” In some cases, this includes isolating people in cells for up to 23 hours per day.
This is most ridiculous hot take of the day.
I mean, he is wrong about there not being things in place to protect prisoners, but he’s not wrong that it’s still dangerous and the conditions aren’t great. Guards have killed inmates before with no real consequences.
Already happening…sadly
Oh no, a russian asset going down.
Exposing American war-crimes and violations of the constitution. Also called “being a Russian Asset”.
Thanks Pelosi.
Am not from the US, so I don’t care a bit about Pelosi. Assange itself made it apparent he’s on a russian payroll.
For one, when the Panama Papers came out, Assange was quick to critise it for badmouthing russians. To quote them:
#PanamaPapers Putin attack was produced by OCCRP which targets Russia & former USSR and was funded by USAID and Soros"
Hell, let’s take Assange’s words about why they never poke Russia?
In Russia, there are many vibrant publications, online blogs, and Kremlin critics such as Navalny are part of that spectrum. There are also newspapers like Novaya Gazeta, in which different parts of society in Moscow are permitted to critique each other and it is tolerated, generally, because it isn’t a big TV channel that might have a mass popular effect, its audience is educated people in Moscow. So my interpretation is that in Russia there are competitors to WikiLeaks, and no WikiLeaks staff speak Russian, so for a strong culture which has its own language, you have to be seen as a local player.
He’s either an asset or a willful idiot.
How is your wall of text relevant?
What Assange exposed were grave war crimes of America murdering Reuters journalists and denying it happened.
Here’s the video you should consider watching it and get educated
Him sucking up to Putin afterwards so he can say alive in Russia is irrelevant. If that is a crime then I suspect Tucker Carlson is going to jail soon.
And serial rapist, let’s not forget that
snuffing out whistleblowing on government corruption
What a journey and sill most people don’t see the implications of this.
For those people who don’t understand, what are the implications? …asking for a friend.
The damage done to his life so far is the point. The implication being: it is intended to have a chilling effect on any potential whistleblowers. The absolute ideal for this hegemonic superpower, and any other for that matter, is to have complete freedom to break international law, with impunity, behind completely closed and sealed doors. To ‘protect its interests’ and any human cost without any repercussion. Being exposed doing what they were doing in this case, not that it was the first, has resulted in a ridiculously disproportionate response for this reason. A platform for whistleblowers to easily and anonymously get info to journalists for them to then properly verify, and when and if appropriate report on? Thats a bridge too far. Many commenting here, and the same occurred throughout this whole fiasco, like to get distracted quibbling over the details, but the implications are far wider for us as individuals and as a wider democratic society: if we properly believe in that concept. Governments and militaries have an uncomfortable relationship with the fourth estate. But actual journalism, if we assume this is what we are referring to, is one of the few hopes we have that citizens can be informed politically, rather than devolving into nationalistic drones.
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If he is extradited and he has broken a US law, they do. Agreement by you or anyone else isn’t necessary, that is how the law works. Look it up.
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It’s still bull shit. America ! World police !
You never heard of anyone being extradited to another country? You guys must lead some very sheltered lives.
Assange and Snowden show Europe it’s place in the world hierarchy. But it’s our fault not really standing up for them.
Such a waste of resources just to protect our abusers.
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Yes, downvoting me proves I’m wrong.
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I might care if he hadnt gone after Clinton and helped her lose.
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