Assange™ makes fresh bid for FREEDOM from Scotland Yard's 'physical encirclement'

Julian Assange™ is attempting to break out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been encamped for two years. His lawyers plan to file a request with the Stockholm District Court in Sweden, where Assange is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual coercion, sexual molestation and rape. The WikiLeaker-in- …

[Fluffy Bunny]

Re: Fees

The Ecuadorean embassy didn't ask to have their front door watched. The people that deserve that bill are the Swedish, for acting like the lickspittle vassals to the US that they are.

[A.P.Richelieu]

Re: Fees

There are international agreements on extradition in place between Sweden and U.K.

If someone is suspected of a crime in Sweden, which was committed in Sweden,

and then flees to the U.K., then Sweden can according to that agreement,

request extradition. The U.K. has in several courts found the Swedish request valid.

There are similar agreements in place between Sweden and the US.

Mr Assange is requesting that Sweden guarantees that Sweden does not abide by

this international agreements. That is not how things work.

The US has not asked for extradition. Personally, I do not see that the US has a case.

Why would a non-US Citizen be breaking the law if he publishes US confidential material

outside of the US. They have no jurisdiction, outside the US.

It would have been different, if Assange was a US Citizen.

If Russian pay a US Citizen visiting Russia for confidential information, they are not breaking

the US law.

I think that the US is quite happy to see Mr Assange continuing his life in freedom at the Ecuadoran Embassy.

As for the charge against Assange in Sweden. He was told that he had to use a condom,

and later at night he did it without the condom, and the girl only noticed afterwards.

Not his choice and illegal in Sweden.

The shit however hit the fan, when TWO girls found out that he's been doing them both.

Bet he regrets beeing a womanizer.

[Velv]

Re: Fees

While I absolutely agree with everything you've said about jurisdiction, you forget that the Merkins believe they have jurisdiction everywhere on the planet irrespective of what has actually been signed by governments.

[Positive Luddite]

Re: Fees

"the Swedish, … lickspittle vassals to the US "

It's the Brits that have a special friendship with US, remember? The Swedes are not even part of NATO.

Actually, because UK is friendly with US, they (you, that is) will spare the Yanks the cost and the pain of having J.A. sent over – rather send him home by way of Sweden.

[Anonymous Coward]

Football party

Assange should get the Ecuadorians to throw a big, noisy football party for their next match; put a big screen TV in the front garden for the benefit of the plods on duty and slip out the back.

[Anonymous Coward]

When I saw the article, my first thought was "Didn't he go to Russia?"

Sorry, slow morning. Still half asleep.

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this Assange person have something to do with operation yewtree? or have I misunderstood something?

[Khaptain]

Ecuadorian embassy

I wonder if he will leak any of the Ecuadorian Embassy secrets when he eventually gets out.

2 years in an Ecuadorian embassy doesn't sound much like fun either. I wonder if he actually pays for his own keep.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ecuadorian embassy

He may be p*ssing his life away inside the four walls of the Ecuadorian embassy, but it's better than p*ssing his life away in an orange suit in Guantanamo Bay.

[Khaptain]

Re: Ecuadorian embassy

Didn't a certain Mr Obama swear to remove that facility ? Julian could have released some very interesting leaks about Gitmo.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ecuadorian embassy

He may be p*ssing his life away inside the four walls of the Ecuadorian embassy, but it's better than p*ssing his life away in an orange suit in Guantanamo Bay.

Not going to happen, although I'm getting to the point where I'd actually wish they dragged him off.

The US has (possibly by accident) done one thing right: they left him well alone. As demonstrated, Assange can create a mess all by himself, and now he's neatly wanted in 2 countries for, well, mostly being a dick.

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Re: Ecuadorian embassy

He wouldn't go to Gitmo.

Obama would have Holder try him in a NY Federal court.

Manning would come out in drag and testify.

(Say what you will, but Manning as weird as he is... still will tell the truth under oath.)

So no Gitmo.

Its the Federal prison system that probably scares Assange. There he will disappear in plain sight.

(He'll be a number in the prison system with no real connection to the outside. Depending on which prison, he'll probably become some guy Bubba's new 'girlfriend'.... ) To Assange, that's not a happy ending ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Assange should be held accountable

He should pay for all costs associated with his attempts to escape extradition and trial for his crimes. He's just a manipulative criminal able to dupe the gullible.

[CanuckDriver]

Re: Assange should be held accountable

Any assets that he owns should be siezed and forfeited to help cover this scumbags attempts at evading the prosecution he should for the crimes he has committed. If he is innocent of them, he should have no fear.

[Ilmarinen]

Re: Assange should be held accountable

Oh dear -

"nothing to hide, nothing to fear" eh?

Thought we'd dealt with this one. Do keep up!

[Fluffy Bunny]

Re: Assange should be held accountable

"nothing to hide, nothing to fear" - that was never true about anything or anyone. It's just something the nanny-staters say to stop you from voting against their latest infringement on your liberty.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Assange should be held accountable

Any assets that he owns should be siezed and forfeited

Hahaha - like the proceeds of his book?

The guy has zilch and is a slacker, desperately trying to avoid having to find a real job.

[Anonymous Coward]

>"where he will be persecuted for leaking thousands of American and British diplomatic cables"

I may be both shallow and pedantic, but it was Chelsea Manning who leaked those cables. Assange published them after they had been leaked.

[Fluffy Bunny]

Re: >"where he will be persecuted for leaking thousands of American and British diplomatic cables"

In America, publishing state secrets is still a crime, even if you didn't do the leaking yourself. Why do you think they have worked so hard to get their hands on him?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: >"where he will be persecuted for leaking thousands of American and British diplomatic cables"

In America, publishing state secrets is still a crime, even if you didn't do the leaking yourself.

That is a crime in every country. That's why they are called state secrets..

Why do you think they have worked so hard to get their hands on him?

I see little evidence of this "hard work". They haven't even gone as far as create the right conditions to issue paperwork for extradition. All that has happened so far is some politicians trying to use this in the media to profile themselves, but from a procedural point there is nada.

It's all in Assange's head (no, the upper one).

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Re: >"where he will be persecuted for leaking thousands of American and British diplomatic cables"

Funny thing.

What apparently scared Assange is that in the Article 32 hearing the allegation was that Assange helped with the theft.

Small detail that has serious implications.

[RISC OS]

Maybe he could get out by

being hoisted straight up in the air several KMs to a helicopter, then he wouldn't have left Ecuadorian land.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

ok, how about tunnelling straight down ? hehe. Ecuador must be somewhere down that way if you far enough

[CanuckDriver]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

Wouldn't that constitute illegal mining?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

Wouldn't that constitute illegal mining?

Sure, but it does fit form, though: he is indeed the type that digs when in a hole...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

Dig you (alleged) fucker, dig.

Ah, but since The Matrix we know there is no spoon. What is he going to dig with? Ferrero Rocher packaging is far too weak for that.

[Goldmember]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

It may not be legal to exit that way, but he didn't exactly get to the embassy under the most legitimate circumstances, so I doubt it'd bother him.

Air evac is a pretty good way to go, if you can stump up the cash to pay for it (including a very high amount to the pilot willing to take the risk). The plods waiting outside would be able to do bugger all about it too.

It'd be funny, if nothing else.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

It'd be funny, if nothing else.

I think digging would be more fun, I imagine a scene like you see in some crime movies where the villain has just escaped (in this case into an Underground tunnel), only to be rammed by transport going at full speed. London Underground seems to have planned for that already as all train ends have screen wipers and are painted red. It will be but a brief smudge...

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

Then he could try this...

get a ducted fan 'tub' attached to a helium balloon. In the dead of night, he could float silently away to a high enough altitude where the noise of a 'quiet' fan wouldn't be heard by the ground plods. He scoots away far enough... lands, changes with someone else and then high tails it to a ship waiting to take him to another ship off the coast. Then he can take a slow freighter to Ecuador before he's found out.

Hey! It would make a great spy novel escape. To add to it... the Ecuadorian Embassy could help by making an outdoor broadcast of the world cup (noise and all) and then use lighting to hide his escape. (Remember how magicians used lighting to make the Statue of Liberty disappear? Its an optical illusion that creates the blind spot and then the noise and distraction will give him his gap.

Just saying...

[RISC OS]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

> 1) It's not Ecuadorian land.

So how come in US films yanks always claim once they are in their embassy that they are on US soil?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

> 1) It's not Ecuadorian land.

So how come in US films yanks always claim once they are in their embassy that they are on US soil?

1 - because it's only a film?

2 - because they're Yanks?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

That's fine. Except for two minor details.

1) It's not Ecuadorian land.

2) Airspace. Only the first 1000 feet or so 'belongs' to the landowner.

3) Pollution laws. From what I read of his Swedish adventures, the guy has a certain aversion to personal hygiene so you don't want that hanging out there, competing with London's pollution.

Plus there is the mess to clean up if they accidentally drop him..

[jonathanb]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

The Equadorian Embassy is within an apartment building. They don't actually own the land, just the internal non-structural walls and the area inside them.

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

> The Equadorian Embassy is within an apartment building.

> They don't actually own the land, just the internal non-structural

> walls and the area inside them.

+1 for making a joke about leaseholds. Never thought I'd see the day.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

I suspect any helicopter that hovered over central London - in the region of Westminster/Buckingham Palace - for more than a few minutes for whatever reason would soon find itself the object of intense scrutiny.

Said helicopter would then have to make the journey from London to a "safe" place. Now helicopters are very capable aircraft but fuel economy and high speed are not their strongest attributes. Now Assange's supporters may be generous, and I don't know how much you need to pay a pilot to press on with the job in hand and ignore Air Traffic Control telling them to land while a pair of Eurofighter Typhoons take up station near by , but I suspect not generous enough.

[Arachnoid]

ignore Air Traffic Control telling them to land while a pair of Eurofighter Typhoons take up station

Well if it were a book/film one was writing the pilot would have a flight plan logged to overfly the area,drop off radar with "engine problems" then fly himself and the accused straight to the airport with two ready made Ecuadorian passports in pocket.

Then again he could just wear a disguise [a Burka seemed to be a certain BBC reporters favorite garb] and come out the front door too..........

[Rampant Spaniel]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

A large catapult on the roof might work, would be worth watching them try!

[DropBear]

Re: Maybe he could get out by

Dang it, where is Lord Varys when you need him?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's really good news about the "new information"

And it should be discussed with the Swedish judiciary at the earliest opportunity, so that this whole mess can finally be cleared up. May I suggest tomorrow's 0730 flight from Heathrow?

(or if that's too risky because the evil Swedish puppets are going to bundle him into a big brown envelope, then there's not much point in trying to talk to them about this news anyway)

[amanfromMars 1]

Met Plod Plodding a Crooked Furrow with a Nice Cushy Earner ... Well, it aint dangerous, is it*?

Jeremy Paxman teases out of Conrad Black, a most unwholesome picture of US justice, which is not an altogether unexpected great match for its criminal protection and proaction services? Check it out ...... http://youtu.be/hBI35DMHjy4?t=5m52s

And what is one to think of governments which choose to be joined at the hip to such as would be an abomination and perversion of a prosecution service and colluding executive administration, knowing that they know it is corrupt and mightily self-serving of a just a chosen few with nothing of novel and noble note to offer?

* Unless boredom can be life-threatening.

[Gray]

Re: Met Plod Plodding a Crooked Furrow with a Nice Cushy Earner ... Well, it aint dangerous, is it*?

We Merikins invite Jules Assunge to Merika via our Sweedish satellite subserviants ... in the spirit of US prosecution 95% plea bargain efficiencies he is offered Door #1, lethal injection in the left arm, or in uproariously good spirit of accomodation, Door #2, lethal injection in the right arm. If this don't suit there is the option of the world-renowned Oklahoma "groin" injection replete with fumble-fingered needle probing and vein blowout. (Can youse Briti'cans spell 'deturrint'? We get hardly no repeat offenders!)

Oh, but wait ... ! It involves Merikin national security secrets! Sorry, but that's a secret court, secret evidence, secret verdict, secret imprisonment and permanently sealed records. Bye-bye boy-o! T'was nice knowin' ye!

Justice? Bwa-haaa-ha-ha do we got justice. Send 'im on over!

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: Met Plod Plodding a Crooked Furrow with a Nice Cushy Earner ... Well, it aint dangerous, is it*?

Oh, but wait ... ! It involves Merikin national security secrets! Sorry, but that's a secret court, secret evidence, secret verdict, secret imprisonment and permanently sealed records. Bye-bye boy-o! T'was nice knowin' ye! .... Gray

Regarding national security secrets of any group of co-conspirators/executive administrators, Gray, here be a real world view which it is virtually impossible to maintain and safeguard against self-incrimination and dirty secrets discovery nowadays, for of course are things fundamentally different today and the ways of the past are a crooked history best swept under the carpet of bad memory ......

The defining characteristic of the Bush II/Obama administrations is the reliance on secrecy--not to protect "national security" but to avoid accountability. If the operation is secret, its failure can be safely buried. This is the reason why everything is classified in the Bush II/Obama administrations: transparency and public knowledge are anathema because they enable scrutiny and analysis and eventually, accountability.

Secrecy is all about avoiding accountability. "National security" is the facade.

Secrecy is the refuge of every dictatorship, totalitarian regime and fascist junta on the planet. We need only look at the savage response of the Obama administration to whistleblowers who have risked their careers and livelihoods, not to mention their freedom, to expose the most egregious violations of the Constitution and American values to see just how dependent the Obama administration is on secrecy to avoid accountability.

Bush II was no better: using proxies (private contractors, local militia, etc.) has a long history in the U.S. Imperial Project as a way of avoiding accountability and scrutiny, but the Bush II/Obama foreign policy is totally dependent on proxies of one kind or another (consider the explosive rise in the use of killer drones, Obama's favored proxy).

The real world is not as forgiving as a bought-and-paid-for media; blowback takes many forms. The incoherence of the Bush II/Obama administrations is not only reaping horrendous harvests in the playgrounds of their Imperial ambitions, it is eroding the American public's trust in their government and the institutions that claim to protect them in a dangerous world. .... ZeroHedge

PS ... nice post by the way. I just love that sort of humour.:-)

[Chad H.]

>>>>>The WikiLeaker-in-chief has always denied any accusations of wrongdoing, and has said that he fears being extradited to the US via Sweden.

Which is utter bullshit as whilst in Sweeden both the Sweedish and UK governments would be required to ascent to his extraditions, as opposed to just the UK government whilst he sits here.

Now ask yourself, what kind of man turns down an opportunity to make extradition to the US harder and instead decides to become a fugitive.

[ShadowDragon8685]

The funny thing about international laws and international agreements and suchlike is that the only thing there is to enforce them is the threat of reciprocal violence.

It's not like there's a magical geas upon the Swedish authorities, or security agencies, which make it literally impossible for them to make the choice to ignore their lawful requirements re: not handing Assange over and hand him over.

It's really just treaty obligations. Who, exactly, is planning to make punitive war against Sweden if they do, in fact, do just that? Is the UK going to invade them to exact some measure of punishment for their flagrant ignoring? Is the EU going to slap trade sanctions upon them?

The U.S. wants Assange. Bad. There may not have been any official extradition requests. That's because there isn't going to be anything above board for him if we get our mitts on him. He's been demonized in the press over here, and there are people calling for him to be executed as a traitor.

No, not even patiently explaining to those people that the crime of treason first implies that the person in question have an obligation to the body they've ostensibly treased against, which an Austrailian citizen would not have re: the United States, did anything.

And I don't mean just your standard rednecks, either, I mean people in Congress.

He has every reason to fear the United States, because if he gets caught, he's not going to face a trial by jury. MAYBE he'll face a secret trial by a military tribunal whose jurors have all been ordered to find him guilty. More likely he'd wind up in the deepest part of the black bag intelligence apparatus, being interrogated until the end of his days.

The U.S. can be a vengeful bastard when it wants to be. And re: Julian Assange, the U.S. is ready to pull out all the stops. Because he made powerful people look bad by exposing their dirty laundry.

[Chad H.]

Which would make sense if there was some barrier stoping extradition from the UK to the US.

There isn't - it's actually quite easy.

If the US had wanted him , they would have made it direct, or kidnapped him direct here, where they have US airbases to run off to.

It's a fairy story he is spinning to avoid charges, nothing more.

[PeterGriffin]

Why would Sweden send him when we haven't...?

It's not as though our government is adverse to capitulating to the American Governments every war mongering whim.

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Re: Why would Sweden send him when we haven't...?

They wouldn't send him.

He goes back to the UK and even the UK wouldnt send him.

They'd boot him back to Australia.

That's where the fun begins.