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Britain Refuses to Extradite Julian Assange

By Jeralyn, Section Colorado News
Posted on Mon Jan 04, 2021 at 02:14:55 PM EST
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Finally, some good news for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Britain has issued its ruling denying the request by the U.S. to extradite him.

“I find that Mr. Assange’s risk of committing suicide, if an extradition order were to be made, to be substantial,” Baraitser said in her ruling at London’s Old Bailey court.

“The overall impression is of a depressed and sometimes despairing man, who is genuinely fearful about his future.”

The United States intends to appeal. Assange has been in custody, both at the Ecuadorian embassy and in jail for a decade. Enough. Free him.

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    Britain Refuses to Extradite Julian Assange | 3 comments (3 topical)

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    he's been in both by his own (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by cpinva on Tue Jan 05, 2021 at 09:14:05 AM EST
    accord, much like the guy who murders his parents is now an orphan. everything he's currently suffering, is the result of his own affirmative acts. so, I'm having some difficulty generating a lot of sympathy for him.

    I respect the decision of the British courts. (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 05, 2021 at 04:27:56 PM EST
    But from my perspective, Julian Assange should hardly be characterized as a victim.

    Of his own accord, Assange chose to hole himself up in London's Ecuadorian embassy, seeking asylum there to avoid having to answer questions from Swedish authorities about sexual assault allegations against him which had been raised by two women.

    And while a guest of the Ecuadorian government in that embassy, Assange then chose to flout its hospitality by willingly participating in the scheme by Vladimir Putin's Russian intelligence services to disrupt and undermine our own country's 2016 presidential election, which manifested itself in Donald Trump's subsequent move into the White House.

    Under the guise of freedom of the press, Julian Assange's vendetta inflicted upon us an awful lot of grief. Whether or not we deserved that potential fate, which has since brought us to the very precipice of authoritarian government, is strictly a matter of personal opinion.

    So, celebrate Assange's drawing of a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, courtesy of the British court system, if that's your wish. But please do so with the clear understanding that the guy is certainly no hero to most Americans.

    Aloha.

    Julian Assange is a hero who should be freed (1.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Airlane1979 on Wed Jan 06, 2021 at 02:35:01 AM EST
    Is this really a blog of the Left? It's hard to discern any socialism or anti-imperialist sentiment in the brief coverage of this important case, nor in the two comments. From Jacobin, 16 October 2020:

    "From 2010 to 2011, WikiLeaks showed us what "the world according to US empire" looks like. Thanks to a cache of cables, including the Iraq and Afghan War Logs, State Department Cables, and Guantanamo Bay prisoner files, released by whistleblower Chelsea Manning, the world was given an unprecedented look into American abuses of power around the world. Using the US government's own documents, WikiLeaks produced a searing indictment of the US national security state.

    But it is not the US national security state that today finds itself indicted, but WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The United States has charged Assange under the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. While the Espionage Act has become the go-to weapon against whistleblowers, this is the first time a publisher or journalist has ever been indicted under the Espionage Act. If convicted, Assange faces over 170 years in prison, likely to be served in solitary confinement in a US supermax prison."

    Britain Refuses to Extradite Julian Assange | 3 comments (3 topical)

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