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Publicerades den 19 jun 2014
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has
lived in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for two years. The Latin
American country originally granted Assange asylum in June 2012, and has
not left the embassy since. Publicerades den 19 jun 2014
Wanted by American and Swedish authorities, the whistleblower and open information advocate faces arrest and a high likelihood of extradition to the US if he steps outside. RT's Polly Boiko has more details on the Assange story and the growing cost British taxpayers face.
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Assange marks two years in legal limbo
***RT 2014-06-19
Julian Assange, a modern day hero and enemy of state, is preparing to mark two years in captivity inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with another major leak of state secrets and a fresh challenge to escape legal limbo.
Having spent two years inside a small ground-floor apartment in the heart of Knightsbridge, London, the 42-year-old year old founder of WikiLeaks is still making his presence felt with a new batch of documents implicating Canada and 49 other countries, it's expected to be released later on Thursday.
Assange: 'Obama should consider his legacy'
On the eve of the two year anniversary of captivity, Assange in a phone interview with journalists has once again stressed that the US Department of Justice is engaged in a witch hunt investigation of a publisher – the longest since the introduction of the Espionage Act of 1917.
“It is against the stated principles of the United States and the values supported by its people to have a four-year pre-law investigation against a publisher,” Assange said.
Meanwhile his UK-based lawyer Jennifer Robinson told reporters the defense team plans to file a legal challenge with the Swedish courts next Tuesday, based on “new information gathered in Sweden”. She said further details of the “information” would be revealed next week. The announcement is the first sign of a possible route out of captivity that has entered its third year.
The WikiLeaks founder, in his latest interview, said next week’s challenge could be a first step in annulling the Swedish detention order, to face “the larger problem of the US and its pending prosecution and perhaps extradition warrant.”
Assange, whose services exposed more than 8 million anonymously leaked documents since 2006, continues to crave freedom.
“He craves freedom, he can’t buy his own food and he would love to have the chance to have a normal walk in the fresh air,” journalist Vaughan Smith, who gave refuge to Assange back in 2010, told UK's Channel 4 news.
- Denial of fresh air has so far caused the British taxpayers more than £6 million for security services to prevent Assange from escaping the Ecuadorian premises.
The bill will further grow, Ecuadorean officials warned, as Assange was welcome to stay in the embassy as long as it was required.
The UK has been refusing to provide Assange safe passage to Ecuador ever since the Australian sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on June 19, 2012. Downing Street is committed to securing Assange’s extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning for alleged sex crimes.
“If he goes to Sweden it will likely be a one-way ticket to the United States,” where he is wanted for exposing US military secrets, including evidence that a US military helicopter crew in Iraq gunned down civilians in July 2007, Assange’s attorney Michael Ratner told Cnet.
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http://rt.com/news/166944-assange-anniversary-london-embassy/
[...]There is nothing like an accusation of rape when it comes to destroying a man’s reputation and character.
The accusation alone carries with it a mark of shame that can never be completely eradicated. This is not to suggest that such accusations should not be taken seriously. They should be taken very seriously – always.
But when they are made under the particular circumstances they were against Julian Assange – i.e. by two women who admitted engaging in a consensual sexual relationship with him, and when a Grand Jury investigation into Assange in the United States is still live, meaning that he faces the real prospect of being extradited to a country with the prospect of spending many years in prison for his role in exposing US dirty secrets and war crimes in places like Iraq – then surely alarm bells start ringing.
Judging by the demonization mounted by leading liberal commentators and columnists in the UK, however, Assange is a shyster using his work with WikiLeaks as justification for his refusal to face justice.
Prime among those columnists and commentators is Owen Jones, currently the acceptable and public face of left-wing opinion within the UK mainstream. In August 2012, Jones penned an article for the UK’s Independent newspaper, titled “There should be no immunity for Julian Assange from these allegations.”
Yet no one, least of all Assange, has ever demanded that he receives immunity. What he requested from the outset is a guarantee from the Swedish authorities that if he agrees to travel to Sweden to answer the allegations, he won’t be extradited to the United States. Could anyone, knowing what we know about the fate to befall Chelsea Manning – sentenced to 35 years imprisonment in 2013 for leaking information to WikiLeaks – seriously argue that he won’t be at risk of extradition to the US from Sweden otherwise? Naomi Wolf, a prominent American writer, feminist and social commentator, has argued from the outset that the rape allegations that have been made against him bear all the hallmarks of a set-up.
- Here we must take a moment to debunk the myth that Sweden is a social democratic utopia built on a foundation of a progressive and humane legal system, when compared to the UK and other developed nations.
On the contrary, Sweden’s record when it comes to extraditing people to other countries and its cooperation with the US in extraordinary renditions is a damning one. It was the subject of a 2013 report by Amnesty International .
Incidentally, Amnesty also supports Julian Assange’s request for an assurance from Sweden than he won’t be extradited to the US if he agrees to travel to the country to face the aforementioned rape allegations.
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http://rt.com/op-edge/163608-assange-god-lonely-man/
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ASSANGE - UNDERMATTAN:
Assange firar 2-årsdag som fånge på Ecuadors ambassad - "70 Miljoner tack för de´ Sverige"
Okej. Klarspråk. Det kommer att kosta er skattebetalare minst 550 miljoner kronor när det här är klart.
SvaraRaderahttp://www.magasinetparagraf.se/debatt/jag-ar-the-national-target#.U5mfAsoknLw.facebook
--‘Assange has no regrets about the revelations of WikiLeaks’--
SvaraRaderaJune 20, 2014
The consequences of Julian Assange's actions forced him to live inside the Ecuadorian embassy for two years, but his spirit is high and he is dedicated to work, investigative journalist and spokesperson for WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson told RT.
RT: Julian Assange and his lawyer will try to challenge the Swedish detention order early next week. Do you think it will be successful?
Kristinn Hrafnsson: I hope they will be successful, given the fact that it is becoming so shameful for Sweden. On Tuesday they will submit information and demand the arrest warrant will be thrown out. I cannot go into details; I hope they will do it themselves next week. The last hope that it will be the breaking point in this ridiculous standoff.
RT: After two years holed up in the embassy, does Assange have any regrets about his revelations?
KH: He has no regrets about the revelations of WikiLeaks, I’m certain. He of course is defending his rights by seeking asylum in Ecuador, the asylum that he was granted. It is a human right and indeed, almost 60 individuals in the organization have submitted reports to the UN condemning Sweden for depriving him from his human rights according to international law.
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http://rt.com/op-edge/167324-assange-wikileaks-human-rights/