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| U.K. Court Bounces Assange |
| 2011-02-24 |
| By JEANNE WHALEN It's about time! A U.K. court ordered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be extradited to Sweden to face questioning about sexual assault allegations, dealing a serious blow to the document-leaking site and its founder. A serious Blow would be a conviction. The decision ensures that Mr. Assange's efforts to build and promote WikiLeaks will be to some degree detoured in coming months by the possibility that he will face criminal sex charges. The allegations against him come as WikiLeaks has gained notoriety with governments around the world because of its release of thousands of classified documents and diplomatic cables. Sweden hasn't formally charged Mr. Assange with a crime, but wants to question him over allegations that he raped one woman and molested another during a visit to Stockholm last August. He denies any wrongdoing. Mr. Assange's lawyers have seven days to appeal the U.K. court's decision. They have said they plan to appeal. Yea, Yea, more Posturing The Swedish Prosecutors' Office in Stockholm declined to comment on the decision. "Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny will not give any interviews about the case while it is being handled by British authorities," said a statement on the Prosecutors' Office website. On Thursday afternoon, the judge released Mr. Assange on the same bail conditions he has been living under since December, which require that he wear an electronic monitoring tag, report in person to police every evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and stay at the same address in Suffolk, a county northeast of London, where he has a curfew. Mr. Assange's lawyers argued he shouldn't be extradited for a number of reasons. They said he wouldn't get a fair trial in Sweden, where they said he's been vilified in the press. They also argued that he tried to meet with Swedish prosecutors several times after the investigation began and before leaving Sweden, but was rebuffed. They also argued that the sexual offenses alleged don't amount to extraditable offenses in the UK. But the U.K. court said it appeared that Mr. Assange had tried to evade questioning while he was in Sweden. Judge Howard Riddle called all four alleged offenses extraditable, and said he was confident Mr. Assange would receive a fair trial in Sweden if he is charged. "Clear and specific, serious allegations have been made against Mr Assange. Serious attempts have been made by prosecutors to interview him. He has not been interviewed," Mr. Riddle said while reading his decision at Belmarsh Magistrates Court in south London. Dressed in a dark suit, Mr. Assange sat calmly and straight-faced as the decision was read. Lawyers for Sweden had said during the hearing that Swedish prosecutors tried repeatedly to arrange an interrogation of Mr. Assange in the second half of September. Mr. Assange's Swedish lawyer said he had tried to contact Mr. Assange at that time but couldn't reach him, most likely, he said, because Mr. Assange was lying low owing to death threats. The U.K. judge, Mr. Riddle, treated this explanation with skepticism. "I do not know why he was uncontactable from the 21st to the 29th of September. It would be a reasonable assumption...that Mr. Assange was deliberately avoiding interrogation in the period before he left Sweden," Mr. Riddle said Thursday. Mr. Assange left Sweden on September 27, before he could be interrogated. "It is not necessary for me to determine whether Mr. Assange deliberately fled the country" to avoid interrogation, Mr. Riddle said. "What is clear however is that he has not made himself available for an interview in Sweden...it does not seem unreasonable for a prosecutor on a serious matter such as this to expect and indeed require" Mr. Assange's presence in Sweden for questioning, Mr. Riddle added. The extradition hearing began in early February. At one point, Mr. Assange's lawyers published their defense strategy online, including several paragraphs about how Mr. Assange shouldn't be extradited to Sweden because there was a "real risk" he would then be extradited or "illegally rendered" to the U.S., where his lawyers argued he could face the death penalty or imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay. In the end, Mr. Assange's lawyers downplayed that argument in court, and Mr. Riddle said Thursday they were right to do so, "in the absence of any evidence" that this was a real risk. Mr. Assange hasn't been charged with any crimes in the U.S., though the government is investigating WikiLeaks and its publications of classified U.S. documents. The rape allegation involves a woman who says she insisted Mr. Assange wear a condom, and that they had consensual sex while he wore one. Later, she said, she awoke to find him having sex with her without a condom. Mr. Assange's lawyers said this wouldn't rise to a definition of rape in most of Europe. But the court disagreed. "In this country, that would amount to rape," Mr. Riddle said. |
| Posted by:Fire and Ice |