Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London

[grumbler]

Kind of embarrassing that was the reason they refused extradition but it is not like it is untrue that our prisons are inhumane.

It's also not true that British jails don't see suicides.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-suicide-rate-rise-jail-prison-probation-ombudsman-annual-report-a9150351.html

Prisoner suicide is a problem all systems face, but I'd need to see statistics (not anecdotes, like the British judge used) to evaluate her judgement.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/sep/14/julian-assange-more-than-60-australian-mps-urge-us-to-let-wikileaks-founder-walk-free

Julian Assange: more than 60 Australian MPs urge US to let WikiLeaks founder walk free

More than 60 Australian federal politicians have explicitly called on the US to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, warning of "a sharp and sustained outcry in Australia" if the WikiLeaks founder is extradited.

With a small cross-party delegation due to fly to Washington next week, the Guardian can reveal that the lobbying trip has won the open support of 63 members of Australia's House of Representatives and Senate.

In a letter, the 63 MPs and senators said they stood in support of the trip to the US and were "resolutely of the view that the prosecution and incarceration of the Australian citizen Julian Assange must end".

They said the matter had "dragged on for over a decade" and it was "wrong for Mr Assange to be further persecuted and denied his liberty when one considers the duration and circumstances of the detention he has already suffered.

"It serves no purpose, it is unjust, and we say clearly – as friends should always be honest with friends – that the prolonged pursuit of Mr Assange wears away at the substantial foundation of regard and respect that Australians have for the justice system of the United States of America," the letter said.

Assange remains in Belmarsh prison in London as he fights a US attempt to extradite him to face charges – including under the Espionage Act. The charges are in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011.

Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 and remained there until 2019. The Australian citizen was arrested when Ecuador revoked his diplomatic status and has been in jail since then, amid a series of legal challenges against the US extradition bid.

The Australian MPs and senators said they agreed with comments by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, that "enough is enough ... and that nothing is served from the ongoing incarceration of Julian Assange".

They also welcomed the recent backing of the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, saying this bipartisan position was "matched by the wide cross-party and independent support within the Australian parliament itself, which in turn reflects the strongly held views of the Australian community".

"Let there be no doubt that if Julian Assange is removed from the United Kingdom to the United States there will a sharp and sustained outcry in Australia."

The letter was organised by the co-conveners of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group: the independent MP Andrew Wilkie, the Labor MP Josh Wilson, the Liberal MP Bridget Archer, and the Greens senator David Shoebridge.

The total number of signatories – 63 Australian federal politicians – reflects an increasing cross-party consensus on the issue. It compares with 48 who signed a letter to the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, in April.

New backers of the cause include Shayne Neumann and Louise Pratt of the governing Labor party, and Melissa Price of the opposition Coalition.

The Australian politicians noted "with gratitude the considerable support in the United States for an end to the legal pursuit of Mr Assange from members of Congress, human rights advocates, academics, and civil society, and from within the US media in defence of free speech and independent journalism".

"On that basis we ask Congresspeople, members of the press, and other relevant civil society stakeholders in the United States to speak up now in supporting an end to the prosecution and detention of Julian Assange," they wrote.

The Australian politicians said they believed the "right and best course of action" would be for the US Department of Justice to cease the prosecution.

...

I don't understand. Isn't the reason this has 'dragged on for over a decade' that he chose to evade a trial by hiding out for nearly a decade?

[crazy canuck]

I wonder what the big urgency is now.

Also, this is something that a US judge would take into consideration when sentencing. 

[Gups]

Kind of embarrassing that was the reason they refused extradition but it is not like it is untrue that our prisons are inhumane.

It's also not true that British jails don't see suicides.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-suicide-rate-rise-jail-prison-probation-ombudsman-annual-report-a9150351.html

Prisoner suicide is a problem all systems face, but I'd need to see statistics (not anecdotes, like the British judge used) to evaluate her judgement.

You might also prefer to read the actual judgement rather than a short newspaper report (helpfully the link to the decision is in the report) before evaluating the judge's decision. If you had, you would see that it was based on the risk to Assage of the the specific prison (Florida ADX)and the risk taht he would be placed be under Special Administrative Measures. The judge also took account of evidence given by professionals as to Assage's mental health and risk of suicide. The reference to Epstein (and others) is in the context of it being impossible to prevent suicide by a determined individual but the important part of the decsion relates to the risk of Assage trying to commmit suicide in a particualar prison.

[OttoVonBismarck]

FWIW none of the recent Americans who have committed the sort of crimes Assange is accused of have been sent to ADX Florence.

The only sort of people in the espionage field who ended up at ADX Florence were guys who were U.S. intelligence or counterintelligence agents who turned double agents for the Soviets or Russia--specifically Richard Hanssen and Aldrich Ames.

[Admiral Yi]

I always thought the espionage case against Assange was dubious.  By all means prosecute the folks with clearance doing the dumping.

[DGuller]

I always thought the espionage case against Assange was dubious.  By all means prosecute the folks with clearance doing the dumping.

I think how dubious it is depends on his motivation.  If he always were what he claimed to be, a facilitator for whistleblowers, then it's a pretty dubious case.  If he always were or at some point became the asset of Russian intelligence, to be a legitimate front for spreading damaging leaked intel, then I think it's not that dubious.  It would be super not dubious if he put some stuff on WikiLeaks, but also kept the other stuff under wraps and sent it straight to Moscow.

[The Minsky Moment]

I always thought the espionage case against Assange was dubious.  By all means prosecute the folks with clearance doing the dumping.

Depends on the evidence, no?

There is certainly a lot of circumstantial evidence publicly available linking Assange to the Russian government. Running a "media" or faux whistleblower group as a front organization for FSB intelligence gathering is not a defense to espionage charges; quite the opposite.

[Jacob]

I never followed Assange and wikileaks that closely...

How well established is it that he was using his position as head of a whistleblower organization to funnel sensitive intelligence directly to the FSB rather than simply being the whistleblower he claimed to be?

[DGuller]

I never followed Assange and wikileaks that closely...

How well established is it that he was using his position as head of a whistleblower organization to funnel sensitive intelligence directly to the FSB rather than simply being the whistleblower he claimed to be?

As far as I know, it's pure speculation by me.  I've never heard that theory before, it just something that occurred to me as a possibility.  However, it's just a logical conclusion:  if Assange was a front for FSB airing embarrassing intel, then surely it would be a huge waste to have him air intel that was much more useful for FSB and FSB only to know secretly.  Given that there were some people who rightly or wrongly believed he was a legit whistleblower, some intel would be coming to him first, rather than from FSB after they already filtered through what they wanted to keep and what they wanted to air.

[Jacob]

Yeah it makes sense hypothetically. The question is whether he was an FSB asset or a true believer (or both somehow), and in what order.

[DGuller]

I would also not read into anything from the official charges.  From the very beginning, with the original rape charges, this felt like a spy drama where the public story felt like the tip of the iceberg, with intelligence insiders knowing much more.  What Assange is currently charged with may be the bare minimum US feels like disclosing.  In the spy game, just letting your enemy know what you know is leaking valuable intel.

[Sheilbh]

I never followed Assange and wikileaks that closely...

How well established is it that he was using his position as head of a whistleblower organization to funnel sensitive intelligence directly to the FSB rather than simply being the whistleblower he claimed to be?

I always thought it was more the other way round, that he was used for laundering Russian intelligence.

I think to start with there were genuine leaks/whistleblowers but at a certain point (post-Snowden) there was clearly an angle to Assange which made genuine leaks harder to come by.

[grumbler]

I think that what the USG wants to charge him with is more inciting illegal espionage than publishing leaked material.  The case appears to me to be pretty weak, though.  It is telling that it wasn't until the Trump administration that the US DoJ decided to indict.

[Admiral Yi]

Depends on the evidence, no?

There is certainly a lot of circumstantial evidence publicly available linking Assange to the Russian government. Running a "media" or faux whistleblower group as a front organization for FSB intelligence gathering is not a defense to espionage charges; quite the opposite.

Please direct me to this circumstantial evidence.