Assange - the story continues : Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:02 am  

Very odd behaviour if you ask me, running to a central-american embassy to seek asylum from a western European country.

I'm still not sure how Sweden has suddenly come to be seen as more of a puppet of the US than the UK, especially given that any ultimate deportation decision would end up in the European courts whether the US attempted to deport him from either Sweden or the UK.

I'm also not sure why his supporters continue to act as though the potential charges he faces in Sweden have been fabricated by the authorities solely to get him to a country where the chances of deportation wouldn't seem particularly higher than from the UK. There may well be a couple of women in Sweden who have genuine reasons for wanting to see him brought to face court.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:42 am  

If he's broken the law, he should face the consequences, and if that consequence is the death penalty then he made his own bed. He comes across as an arrogant tw@ that thought he wouldn't get caught.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:21 am  

Agreed with both.

It just comes across as trying to evade the law in any desperate way. And trying to paint Sweden as some kind of US puppet with a corrupt, bent judiciary is just daft and doesn't help his case.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:12 am  

He's clearly got a lot to hide on both scores. I really don't know why he's not been convicted of terrorism for releasing the information he did. Stick him in the Bay and then let Sweden have what's left.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:17 pm  

Agree with all of the above. I can't understand though why a journalist would want to flee to a country which is famous for persecuting journalists? Or why someone who supposedly stands us for justice is trying to evade questioning by the Swedish authorities in relation to serious crimes?

What's more interesting though is what will happen if he is granted asylum by Ecuador. The Met will arrest him the second he steps outside the embassy and the RAF has confirmed that no helicopter will be allowed to leave the vicinity.

My opinion FWIW is that if Assange is recognised as a refugee by the Ecuadorian government then he will be suddenly be made a some kind of attachee and thus be able to flee the UK under the cloak of diplomatic immunity.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:26 pm  

kirkstaller wrote:

Agree with all of the above. I can't understand though why a journalist would want to flee to a country which is famous for persecuting journalists? Or why someone who supposedly stands us for justice is trying to evade questioning by the Swedish authorities in relation to serious crimes?

What's more interesting though is what will happen if he is granted asylum by Ecuador. The Met will arrest him the second he steps outside the embassy and the RAF has confirmed that no helicopter will be allowed to leave the vicinity.

My opinion FWIW is that if Assange is recognised as a refugee by the Ecuadorian government then he will be suddenly be made a some kind of attachee and thus be able to flee the UK under the cloak of diplomatic immunity.

I don't know the ins and out of diplomatic protection etc but I think in basic terms an Ecuadorian diplomatic car is just like an extension of the embassy and so couldn't (without causing a diplomatic incident) be stopped by British Police. Whether Ecuador would want to annoy Britain, the US, the EU and Sweden all at once though, I don't know.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:45 pm  

Him wrote:

I don't know the ins and out of diplomatic protection etc but I think in basic terms an Ecuadorian diplomatic car is just like an extension of the embassy and so couldn't (without causing a diplomatic incident) be stopped by British Police. Whether Ecuador would want to annoy Britain, the US, the EU and Sweden all at once though, I don't know.

AFAIK diplomatic cars are NOT an extension of the embassy. Recognised diplomatic staff can exercise diplomatic immunity anywhere in their host country but diplomatic vehicles do not have such benefits.

Even if they did, and this may sound silly, Assange would still have to physically exit the building to get into a car. The Met are on the doorstep and would apprehend him before he even had the door opened for him.

Re: Using Martin instead of Standee : Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:54 pm  

Why don't the Yanks send over a helicopter gunship to patrol the sky above the Ecuadorian embassy just in case he tries to make a run for it? Mind if there's any photographers waiting outside the embassy I hope their cameras don't look like rifles.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:58 pm  

Standee wrote:

If he's broken the law, he should face the consequences, and if that consequence is the death penalty then he made his own bed. He comes across as an arrogant tw@ that thought he wouldn't get caught.

Can you explain to me whose law he has broken?
As he's in the UK, I'd like you to tell me which UK law he has broken, and if he has why hasn't he been charged in the UK?

If the Swedes want to extradite him, perhaps they should charge him first. He hasn't been charged with an offence in Sweden.

On the other hand you can always bend down on your knees to the mighty US of A whenever they ask you to.

Re: Assange - the story continues : Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:09 pm  

billypop wrote:

Can you explain to me whose law he has broken?
As he's in the UK, I'd like you to tell me which UK law he has broken, and if he has why hasn't he been charged in the UK?

If the Swedes want to extradite him, perhaps they should charge him first. He hasn't been charged with an offence in Sweden.

On the other hand you can always bend down on your knees to the mighty US of A whenever they ask you to.

I'm no expert on extradition matters but I'm not sure the Swedes have to charge him in order to undertake a lawful extradition. It depends on the treaty.

I do know that it has reached the highest UK court and that the Swedes were found to have a lawful claim to him.