📸 I took these photos in 2011, while Julian #Assange was in the same High Court in London where the hearing is happening today; (photos previously unreleased, now under (CC) BySa or LAL 1.3)
Today's hearing is about requesting a permission (!) to appeal (!) his extradition to the US (!) where he faces certain death in prison for his work as a journalist and publisher.
Then, he was appealing against his first extradition request (!) to Sweden...
📚 A few weeks after the massive releases of 2010 (Collateral Murder, the Afghan and Iraq War logs), while residing and working in Sweden, Julian was tipped off that the US will attempt to snatch him, to use the particularly lax extradition law in Sweden to get him to the US, and use any excuse possible (his sources evoked accusations of "child pornography" or "a bag of drugs found in a suitcase" or anything). What happened to to him got indeed very strange...
🚔 A Swedish woman he slept with freaked out about a broken condom when learning he also slept with another person, and got convinced by that person to go to the police, to attempt to force him to take an HIV test. That person knew somebody working in the police... The police further 1/ manipulated the transcript of the interview 2/ pressed charges for sexual offense (the woman later said she was "railroaded into pressing charges") 3/ leaked parts of the transcript to the press.
⚖️ Assange went to the police to answer all their questions. The case got closed, but weeks after a prosecutor from a different jurisdiction re-opened it. Assange lawyers then requested that he would promptly be interviewed by the prosecutor so he could clear his name. This was refused as the prosecutor was "sick". Weeks after lawyers ask for a permission for him to leave Sweden, as he had work to do elsewhere. Permission granted. He leaves for the UK.
🚨 Weeks after, Interpol issues a "red notice" (usually used for international organized crime, terrorism, etc.), while Sweden issues an extradition warrant for Assange. Unbelievable! This is when he decided to go by himself to the police in London, so his name could be cleared in court. Of course it didn't go as planned, extradition was upheld (hence the appeal, during which the photos were taken). Preposterous "house arrest", ankle bracelet, daily report to the police, etc. ensued.
🇪🇨 Later on, as it became clearer and clearer that the UK won't help get that case closed, and as all was pointing to the US preparing an indctment for "conspiracy for espionnage" (under the 1917 espionnage act under which a defendant has no way of arguing his motive was political, or of general interest...), Julian took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy. He got political asylum and EC nationality as its government confirmed the risk was real he'd be extradited to the US.
⛓️ During 7+ years confined in this minuscule apartment, without a balcony, without seeing a tree or getting outside once, his lawyers asked repeatedly to the Swedish prosecutor to either 1/ come to the embassy to conduct interrogation 2/ use a video link as frequently done by Sweden at that time. No answer. This period in the embassy was considered by UN Rapporteur on arbitrary detention as.. detention. And felt like prison. J's health without access to doctors/hospitals degraded.
👩⚖️ For 10y Sweden kept the "investigation" ongoing (think of "the victims"!) without agreeing to interview him. When case was finally closed, his name was durably muddied. The truth is: there was NO Swedish case... or rather the Swedish case has been the case of Sweden's police and judicial authority manipulating the truth to help the US harass a journalist, while instrumentalising these women for 10y. (background of 2nd woman A. Ardin is interesting but not the topic here.)
🦅 After 7+ years in the Ecuadorian embassy, a regime change there, the mega-release of Vault7 that proved how incompetent, unaccountable and crazy the CIA was with its capacity to enter about any device without leaving traces, and a few days after Ecuador got a 4B$ loan from the IMF, the UK police got invited into the embassy to drag him out and arrest him (2019). Accused of "skipping bail" (usually a 20ish weeks of prison) he spent 4+years in the worst max-security prison in UK.
😷 Of course his health is degrading. Mentally and physically. Many would have been dead already in such conditions. That is: a few weeks in jail + 2 years of house arrest + 7 years of "detention" (according to UN) in embassy + 4 years in max-security prison.. But his incredible resilience, his strong network of support, and the faint hope that there would be legal or political means to get him out kept him alive so far...
💀 If Assange is sent to the US he is a dead man. Because:
1917 espionnage act doesn't leave a chance to defend oneself (no way to invoke general interest, it is just about whether or not documents were published, and they were);
he faces up to 175 years in prison;
he would be detained in isolation in the topmost-security prison;
🗽 So in case you're not convinced yet: Assange/WikiLeaks case is the most important legal case of our times, as it impacts: press freedom; freedom to publish; war crimes; cyber-security; the resilience of our collective infrastructures online; online censorship; geopolitics; lies and crimes in governments; instrumentalisation of police and justice; the CIA; the relationship of we (the people) facing arbitrary authoritarian powers of the state; character assassination; [list too long]
⁉️ If you think you "hate the guy" or just "dislike him" or that you are not concerned by his legal case because.. you know.. his "personality", please ask yourself: why? How do you know about his personality? What are your sources? Please put all this in the balance and take a look at the big picture of the massive (almost 15y!) campaign of manipulation/influence/slander/character assassination, and a legal case that goes way beyond him. If a precedent is made here, you will suffer too.💔
There’s no “them”, it was Assange who posted all these from Wikileaks account and then reposted them from his personal. Occasionally he did the other way around. I don’t like the way how rape allegations were used against to trigger the criminal case against him, but that’s how law enforcement works. The years he spent in Ecuador embassy in London was self-inflicted harm. But I have zero sympathy for him as a person, especially that he was the one who suggested Snowden to seek asylum in Russia.
@kravietz@jz
I'm not informed (nor misinformed) enough about Assange to have a solid opinion, but isn't it "but that's how law enforcement works" regarding fake rape accusations enough to rally behind whistle blowers? I may or may not like him personally, but his fight is worth fighting, and I'm certainly not gonna do it myself, so yeah, all my fucking sympathy for the guy. I may not choose to go and have a beer with the guy if he's ever free, but I support his cause.
The problem is that you never know if rape accusations are fake or not until you investigate. Remember, they were raised in Sweden in 2010 by two women he knew very well, not by some random puppets. But Assange decided to avoid the investigation and legged it, which triggered the whole logical chain of events involving international arrest warrant.
And he remained free in the UK until 2012 when the British court rule he should be extradited to Sweden to be tried on the rape accusations. It is then when he decided to lock himself inside the Ecuador embassy for 7 years, until he was kicked by Ecuador.
Now here’s an interesting inconsistency: if the rape allegations were false, he would be acquitted in Sweden, which has a fully independent judicial system and ranks very high on human rights and rule of law. If they were true or partially true, he would probably face a short sentence, possibly suspended, still fully deserved for what he had done.
Unfortunately, on each step he actively chose to avoid investigation and acquittal and escaped, making the situation even worse.
Of course I know his official narrative that the whole rape case was fake and opened so that he could be sent to USA, but this is absurd on so many levels that it’s difficult to comment. Especially that then he escaped to UK, which is much closer ally with USA than the UK.
@kravietz@jz
Those strategies seldom aren't meant to uphold in court, they are used to gain the favor of the public and sow doubt so the authorities can then get away with their own indiscretions and rule bending.
It doesn't matter if they were true or not, only that you and I aren't sure about it and now disagree on the bigger issue.
The whole point of the court trial is that the fate of the accused is not decided by the “favour of the public” but by the court. Otherwise it would be simply called “lynching”.
@kravietz@jz
I do understand now what you meant by "that's how cops work". You assumed they were investigating a valid claim in good faith, as they should.
I assumed they used it as a pressure tactic from the get go to get away with bending some rules, hence this discussion.
I now see you aren't defending such tactics, you just don't think there were shenanigans involved in the first place?
Of course, “bending some rules” is the association that comes first to mind when you read the rape allegations story.
But then you ask yourself a question: “bend some rules”… to get what? Okay, they got him detained and tried in court.
It would again make sense in Russia, when you can be arbitrarily detained for “discrediting armed forces” and kept in “temporary detention” for 3 months before you even see your investigator.
But Sweden is not Russia and public pressure would definitely give this investigation a priority and public oversight.
So they get him to the court… to get what? Top lawyers cross-questioning the women who filed the charge and their story falling apart, and themselves getting charged for contempt of the court and #Assange freed on the spot? Or, if the charge wasn’t fake, sentenced for a few months of house arrest with public works? Or even an one year prison term, if he was actually violent during the rape that actually happened?
So let’s assume the worst case, he does the time in a luxury prison where he enjoys full Internet access, then it’s 2012-2013 and he’s released and joins hundreds of other men who happen to be public figures accused of rape in the past and who not only enjoy their lives to the full and nobody cares (sadly).
@kravietz@jz
I won't pretend I understand their motivations, I just can't take it at face value and assume good faith in a high profile case like this with this much at stake.
I would love him to get a proper trial for that allegations instead of an instant life incarceration because of a 1917 loophole who just happens to benefit the status quo.
@kravietz@jz
Yes, I know. I would love to see him in trial as much as you do. But it's gonna be hard to do it if he is imprisoned for bullshit political charges thought, isn't it?
But the whole point of the extradition request is that he can face a trial in the US on the espionage charges. Which his supporters are describing as originating from him exposing “war crimes”, but judging from Assange’s public activity in spreading Russian disinformation I will be not at all surprised if he is charged with actual espionage and spreading Russian disinformation, which would be 100% deserved.
@excess@kravietz@jz
According to Nils Melzer the two women never made any allegations originally, the security services made the whole thing up and it escalated from there.
If this is true, it was a set up which shows that Assange had reason to be fearful.
The story is a bit more complex and when you read what actually happened between Assange and these two women you have “WTF” reaction every second sentence. But it’s definitely not the case of “security services making this up” - the whole case started with one of women calling police.
@kravietz by "them" i meant reconsider your reservations in the light of all this... but am not sure you are willing to do that effort...
so what are your reservations, from these screenshots?
he may (?) have been wrong about something sometimes?
he is supported by people you don't like?
The thing is: you can find thousands of other articles defending him and photos of crowds in his defense, probably including many in opposition to those you just showed.
No, it’s not that “he had been wrong about something sometimes”. Assange consistently and persistently support Russia state narratives, be it regarding Ukraine, be it regarding Syria or whatever else. Wikileaks silence about leaks in Russia was legendary when they were actually active.
To me this clearly indicates that he was not merely “wrong”, he was actively engaged in pushing Russian imperial policy. That he is still “being supported” by many people only testifies to the fact that most people don’t give a shit about either Syria or Ukraine, just like people who “just call for peace” when really calling for Ukraine to surrender.
I’m from Eastern Europe and I do care, so Assange to me is nothing but a scumbag who willingly sold himself to Putin.
I usually ignore these types of comments, but today is special...
So, this opinion is mis-informed in more than one way:
1/ The revelations about corruption in the DNC (Democractic Party) did NOT make Trump elected. it's rather a) the poor campaign of Clinton b) a broken electoral system where she could win popular vote but not be elected c) the very content of these leaks: the entire DNC conspired to sink B. Sanders (who was the most popular) and to boost Trump!
In the emails published, you can clearly read that the DNC helped Trump win the primary of the Republican party, arguing "he is the only one we can beat". It's a major strategic mistake that made them lose. Blaming #Assange for that is of historical bad faith.
2/ Ccontent of the DNCLeaks was absolutely newsworthy and authentic. They were published by the NYTimes and the Wash.Post. Are these also responsible for getting Trump elected? Should one shut up about corruption?
3/ After claiming everywhere that he was "a rapist" (while as demonstrated 10y later by hard facts by a UN Special rapporteur, the entire case was fabricated, twisted and instrumentalized) now people claim he is "a Russian spy", "worked with Putin".
There is not a single piece of evidence to back this claim. Even the Muller Report (have you read it? i did) is inconclusive on the issue.
All there is is one private security company claiming that the source may have been within the Russian intelligence agency. Maybe. Why not.
but: a) whoever the source is, if the documents are authentified, unaltered and newsworthy, and if their revelation is of general interest (and the DNCLeaks def. were!) then anyone who gets them should publish them
b) Assange said repeatedly he had no way of knowing who a source was. WikiLeaks was actually built that way from day0.
So fine: you decide to believe rumours ("he worked with Putin") and shady sources within the intelligence crowd who he exposed and want him dead, rather than believe a journalist/publisher who took immense personal risk, collected 30+ international journalism awards and faces death in prison.
That shows at best where your heart is.
So, do you think #Assange should die? Spend his life in US prison? How about the other leaks, about war crimes in Iraq, Afg., corruption, etc.?
I have literally just given you live examples from Assange’s own website where he 100% lined with Russian disinformation, but you still speak of “shady sources”? 😲
I have literally given you evidence, in the form of screenshots I’ve made years ago from Wikipedia tweets, with my mouth and eyes wide open in one huge “WTF”.
And once again, he had “not been wrong”, he was actively and entirely consciously engaging in spreading this disinformation to the thousands of people who followed him.
I don’t know what is or is not Russian disinformation.
That doesn’t mean that others don’t. I’ve read every single report from OPCW on Russian chemical and conventional attacks in Syria, as well as reports from AI, UN, OSCE, HRW etc on Russian war crimes in Ukraine. And I have been to Ukraine and Russia plenty of times. And I can verify most OSINT evidence. This is how I know Assange engaged in spreading these lies intentionally.
I don’t know what he “deserves” from legal point of view. It’s up to the court to establish based on evidence and what activities he will be charged for.
My personal assessment of his activities in spreading Russian disinformation is based on what I have seen him doing with my own eyes. And based on that my personal opinion is that he’s a Putin’s whore, nothing more, nothing less 🤷
This narrative literally describes methods used by Russian law enforcement, which sound ridiculous in the context of Sweden which ranks very high in terms of rule of law, independent judiciary and human rights protection. This narrative literally paints Sweden as some kind of mirror of Russia here, to be honest, which clearly indicates at the origin of inspiration. At the same time, can you point out any high-profile cases where people jailed on political motives were extradited to the US due to “lax extradition laws”?
However the "rank" of Sweden, it used its "impeccable" judicial system to twist the rules, its 'perfect" police did fraudulently edit records and leak documents to the press (they can be the only possible source).
All this is not a "narrative" but facts, as collected by a UN special rapporteur in his book. Please take a read instead of spreading uninformed slander.
"lax extradition law" = Sweden extradites to the US automatically, administratively.
But nobody even filed an extradition request while he was in Sweden? He spent months there, only legged when the rape investigation was reopened. Then he moved to the UK and lived there for months, until an extradition request was filed.. from Sweden, for the rape charges.
@jz Sweden does not have lax extradition laws. I quote from the Swedish government
Extradition is not permitted if the act is not punishable in Sweden (the act must be punishable under Swedish law by imprisonment for one year or more). Other impediments to extradition under the Extradition Act include the risk of persecution or, under certain circumstances, the act being considered a military or political offence.
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