Tag: Julian Assange

Update: Assange spoke from a balcony. He looked healthy. He called for an end to the U.S. war against whistleblowers:

"The United States must vow it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful"

Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange is scheduled to give a statement today at 2pm London time from the Ecuadoran embassy.

How will he do it without stepping outside where British police are waiting? [More...]

Some experts weigh in with some possibilities on how Julian Assange will get out of the Ecuadoran Embassy in London and whether Britain would revoke Ecaudor's status under a little if ever used law and go in and seize him.

Among the possibilities being discussed: Having him escape in an oversized diplomatic bag or crate. another one:

Ecuador could name Assange its representative to the United Nations. That would make him immune from arrest while traveling to U.N. meetings around the world. Assange could be stripped of his role as representative by the U.N. General Assembly, but in the meantime would be protected.
[More...]

Ecuador has granted asylum to Julian Assange of Wikiliaks.

“The government of Ecuador, faithful to its tradition of protecting those who seek refuge in its territory or in its diplomatic missions, has decided to grant diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange,” said Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, reading from a government communiqué at a news conference....

“There are indications to presume that there could be political persecution,” and that Mr. Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States and could face the death penalty there.

Ecuador can only provide protection to Assange in Ecuador. And Britain still says it must extradite him to Sweden. How does he get to Ecuador? [More..]

The Supreme Court of Great Britain has denied the request of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to reconsider its May 30 order rejecting his appeal of a lower court's extradition order. A press release explaining the May 30 order is here.

Today's order is here. The extradition order takes effect 14 days from today. Assange could apply for relief to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, but experts say it's unlikely he would prevail.

According to Fair Trials International, Assange is likely to be kept in pre-trial detention once he reaches Sweden.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has lost his appeal on extradition to Sweden. The British Supreme Court says he can be extradited to face charges there.

In a 5-2 vote, the British Supreme Court upheld the validity of an arrest warrant made by a Swedish prosecutor to question Assange over accusations by two Swedish women that he sexually assaulted them.

The ruling is here. The Court's press summary is here [More...]

The leaked Stratfor e-mails contain one by Fred Burton of Stratfor a year ago saying the U.S. has a sealed Indictment for Julian Assanage.

Email-ID 375123
Date 2011-01-26 15:23:28
From burton@stratfor.com
To secure@stratfor.com
Not for Pub --

We have a sealed indictment on Assange.

Pls protect
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Burton, the vice-president of intelligence for Stratfor, is a former deputy chief of the counter-terrorism division of the US State Department's diplomatic security service. The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the email here, and Forbes here. [More...]

An appeals court in Great Britain has refused to invalidate Sweden's extradition warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He now has two weeks to appeal to the country's highest court.

Here is the ruling.

The judge presiding over the case of Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden has ruled he can be extradited.

The Judge ruled Assange can get a fair trial in Sweden and that the extradition request and warrant were valid. He rejected Assange's claim that he also could be extradited to the U.S. or Guantanamo and said there was no evidence Assange faced torture or extradition if that happened.

Assange can appeal the decision.

This week, the New York Times reported the Justice Department was considering conspiracy charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, rather than espionage charges.

On Meet the Press this morning, Biden said he can't talk about the grand jury investigation. In the next sentence, he said:

If he conspired to get these classified documents with a member of the U.S. Military, that’s fundamentally different than if somebody drops on your lap here.. "Here is-- classified material."

Could he have said any more clearly the grand jury is focused on a charge Assange conspired with Manning?

Update: The appeals court decided in favor of Julian Assange and he will be released on bail.

Update: Julian Assange's statement upon being released from jail.

The Guardian is live-blogging the appeal hearing of Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange. [More...]

The Guardian reports it was Great Britain, not Sweden, that decided to appeal the release of Wilileak's founder Julian Assange on bond.

The Crown Prosecution Service will go to the high court tomorrow to seek the reversal of a decision to free the WikiLeaks founder on bail, made yesterday by a judge at City of Westminster magistrates court.

It had been widely thought Sweden had made the decision to oppose bail, with the CPS acting merely as its representative. But today the Swedish prosecutor's office told the Guardian it had "not got a view at all on bail" and that Britain had made the decision to oppose bail.

The spokesperson for the Swedish Prosecutor's office says they don't have a view on bail and will not be submitting any evidence at tomorrow's hearing. The CPS has confirmed this. [More...]

(Image via MGM-online)

Update: Sweden is appealing the decision. A ruling in the appeal could take a week. Also, Assange's bond is L200,000, which must be in cash because cheques take a week to clear. His lawyer says: "So I have to go around to find cash and have it delivered to court, and until the court has it an innocent man stays in jail."

A British Court has granted bail to Wikileak's founder Julian Assange.