

Lunch and dinner with Julian Assange, in prison - neic
http://theconversation.edu.au/lunch-and-dinner-with-julian-assange-in-prison-12234

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radio4fan
FTA:

"I’d been told he might be heavy weather. Fame is a terrible burden, and
understandably the famous must find ways of dealing with sycophants,
detractors and intruders."

Well he certainly had to deal with a sycophant that day.

"Julian Assange could be described as the Tom Paine of the early 21st
century."

Seriously?

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edgeman27
He is not in prison. He is not "the most wanted man in the world". I stopped
reading at that point.

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sigzero
Right. The comments on the page are pretty much tearing the article apart.

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Ygg2
Actually, no. Comments are all over the place, some are in favor of him, some
are against him.

And those defending him have some valid points - If he did agree to go to
Sweden for interrogation/trial (of a crime committed in Sweden) under the
condition for Sweden to not extradite him to US, why haven't they accepted
that deal? This is a local matter, right? Unless they want to ship him over
overseas.

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radio4fan
To be fair to the Swedish government, they can't offer a guarantee like this.
Assange and his lawyers are taking advantage of this fact.

According to Swedish law, any application that comes in in the future has to
be dealt with in court.

The government can't give guarantees that it will ignore the law in some
hypothetical future situation. After all, the US hasn't asked for his
extradition (yet).

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Ygg2
Hm, perhaps, but what about other options? What about interviewing him in
embassy in person or via Skype? Is there a reason that would be impossible for
Swedish government?

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radio4fan
No, I absolutely agree that would be a sensible and possible option, and I've
read that the Swedish police have done it before in other recent cases.

I've not heard any compelling explanations why this hasn't been attempted,
though IMO, Assange would be a fool to agree to it -- guilty or innocent.

On the other hand, there's little doubt that the attempted extradition
procedure has correctly followed current UK law: it went all the way to the
Supreme Court, and he was represented by absolutely top-class lawyers. So
Sweden has the right to do what they're doing.

People have been extradited from the UK on 'European Arrest Warrants' for
crimes such as drink-driving and theft of a piglet, with no prima facie
evidence required.

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RileyJames
This article does feel a little over done, but both sides of Australian
politics seem to care only about the polls. It would be nice if they actually
got something constructive done. Assange would be a nice change.

