

Julian Assange loses appeal against extradition - sathishmanohar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-to-learn-fate-of-appeal-against-extradition-to-sweden/2011/11/02/gIQAhQbteM_story.html

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sipefree
If the US does take him from Sweden, then it will only serve as huge negative
PR against them, and call into question the motives of the UK courts. The
backlash could be huge.

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illumen
The Swedish people want his blood too, as does the Swedish Prime Minister. He
is going to go into a secret trial, and possibly just disappear. Also the
Australian Prime minister wants him locked up, so I wouldn't be surprised they
don't do something. It's likely they will help the US take him away somewhere
nasty rather than do it themselves though.

When you have multiple world leaders going after you, there's not much you can
do. Basically Julian is fucked.

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niklasl
As a Swede, I can tell you we don't give a flying fuck about Assange and
neither does the prime minister. If he had just come here and had his trial,
he would have had about 95% chance of being acquitted (the courts being rather
more cautious on sexual matters than the prosecutors here) and could go back
to doing what he does.

As for the secret trials and disappearing thing. Sweden has such a good
reputation on freedom that Wikileaks wanted to relocate here before Assange
got into trouble. He's certainly no worse off here than in the UK.

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illumen
You are wrong. The Swedish Prime minister has made public statements that the
man is guilty. So has the Swedish press.

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marcusf
Neither of them have any control of the courts, though. And of course our
press will latch on to a juicy story, as would any.

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illumen
The Prime Minister creates law. The press influence the courts through
criticism and informing public opinion. The courts have already been subjected
to almost a year of media coverage influencing them, and the politicians
influencing them.

There is a reason why the politicians are not supposed to comment on criminal
cases. There is also a reason why people are supposed to make their decisions
on the evidence and arguments in the court rather than being influenced by the
media.

Search on the internet for "Julian Assange is a rapist" on google.se and you
will find countless claims that he is guilty coming from people in Sweden.
Julian Assange är en våldtäktsman, brings up 1.5 million results on google.se.

Having a secret trial, in a country proven to declare the guilt of the accused
- without hearing the evidence - is not a fair trial.

The whole thing makes a mockery of justice. He should be given a fair trial -
as should anyone else on this planet.

Let's try and flip nationalism around for the moment. Assume You personally
were accused of something by the prosecutors of Finland, or the USA. Then the
president of the USA comes out and says that you are "an enemy of the people",
and states that you have bad ideas on committing crimes. Then you are going to
be shipped off to the USA for a trial - but of course the evidence will not be
made public, people will just have to trust the courts.

There is a great risk of an unfair trial in Sweden for this case(not all
cases). There is also a high risk that he will be sent to the USA and face
execution once in Sweden - as stated by the Swedish prosecution.

International law, and human rights should apply. This should be taken to a
higher court in the UK.

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marcusf
I really don't want to argue the point too much. We've obviously got different
views on this, and differing experiences with the swedish judiciary system. PM
Reinfeldt would not sign anything in to law regarding this, and parliament
would never approve it. There's no basis in history for assuming anything like
remotely like that would occur.

Also "Julian Assange är en våldtäktsman" returns 360 hits, not 1.5 mil, where
most of them are the suffix of the meaning "If Julian Assange is a rapist...",
so your interpretation is a bit off. As others have stated, the verdict is
still out. Swedes are not smelling blood, and I resent that interpretation of
Swedes as a collective and the accusation that he would not get a fair trial
in Sweden.

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jgrahamc
Every time I read about this I'm struck by the number of people who see
Assange's treatment as politically motivated and seem unable to accept the
possibility that he assaulted two women.

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dagw
This case looks politically motivated even if we assume he's 100% guilty of
everything he's accused of. Sweden basically never spend this amount of
efforts and resources to get 'normal' people extradited, even when they're
accused of far worse things that Assange is accused of. Had he been just some
tourist there is no way in hell they'd bother with any of this.

That being said I don't think there is some big dark conspiracy with the CIA
pulling the strings, but more a case of local prosecutors and politicians who
saw a chance to make a name for themselves, and a tiny country with self-
esteem issues desperately wanting to swing their dick with the big boys (and I
say that last bit as a Swede).

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eli
_Sweden basically never spend this amount of efforts and resources to get
'normal' people extradited_

I've heard this claim before, but is there any data to back it up. If Sweden
believes a sex crime has been committed on its soil it has the right and the
duty to seek to prosecute the perpetrator.

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dagw
<http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article12621641.ab> is the first example I
can find (it's in Swedish). The crime in this case is violent assault.
Basically the police caught the guys, who then confessed, but fled the country
(back to Ireland) while out on bail. So they have the name and address of the
people involved, but can't be bothered to try to get them extradited.

The money quotes from the prosecutor is: "If we where to try to bring home
everybody who commits a crime that isn't serious enough we'd never get
anything done...It doesn't work like that, we only do that (attempt to
extradite) for serious crimes, like murder".

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VonLipwig
The charges seem a bit 'iffy' to me. Apparently if the girl doesn't enjoy the
sex in Sweden it is rape...

Aren't the two charges. He didn't use a condom and he coerced a girl to sleep
with him?

That said I now have little sympathy for him. If he is innocent I am sure he
will be found so in Sweden.

He was originally a beacon for free speech. Then he oversaw the release of un-
redacted cables and he turned into a pillock. He deserves what he gets.

