WikiLeaks about to hit the fan

Press Release
September 27, 2012
Amnesty International Calls on Sweden to Assure Julian Assange Won't be Extradited to the United States

(Washington, D.C.) -- Amnesty International calls on the Swedish authorities to issue assurances to the United Kingdom and to Julian Assange that if he leaves Ecuador’s London embassy and agrees to go to Sweden to face sexual assault claims, he will not be extradited to the United States in connection with Wikileaks.

In the wake of the Wikileaks co-founder addressing the United Nations and with talks due between British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Ecuadorian officials, the human rights organization said that it was time to break the impasse.

"If the Swedish authorities are able to confirm publicly that Assange will not eventually find himself on a plane to the United States if he submits himself to the authority of the Swedish courts, then this will hopefully achieve two things," said Nicola Duckworth, a researcher at Amnesty International. "First, it will break the current impasse, and second, it will mean the women who have leveled accusations of sexual assault are not denied justice."

"It is vital that states show they are serious about dealing with allegations of sexual violence and that they respect both the rights of the women who made the complaints and the person accused," Duckworth added.

While Amnesty International has no evidence that Sweden plans to extradite Assange to the United States, it is evident that fears about such an outcome have played no small part in the current stand-off.

Amnesty International believes that the forced transfer of Julian Assange to the United States in the present circumstances would expose him to a real risk of serious human rights violations, possibly including violation of his right to freedom of expression and the risk that he may be held in detention in conditions which violate the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

second, it will mean the women who have leveled accusations of sexual assault are not denied justice."

"It is vital that states show they are serious about dealing with allegations of sexual violence and that they respect both the rights of the women who made the complaints and the person accused," Duckworth added.

Military Makes a Mockery of Bradley Manning’s Right to a Speedy Trial

“PFC Manning’s statutory and constitutional speedy trial rights have been trampled upon with impunity,” writes David Coombs, defense lawyer for accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning, in a new motion posted to his blog yesterday.

The 117-page comprehensive motion takes a long and thorough look at the ways in which the Convening Authority and prosecution have utterly failed to act according to their obligations to provide Manning a speedy trial. Coombs concludes that the only remedy for these extremely long delays is a dismissal of charges with prejudice.

At the time of Coombs’ filing, Manning had been imprisoned for 845 days. Coombs emphasizes just how long this is:

“With trial scheduled to commence on 4 February 2013, PFC Manning will have spent a grand total of 983 days in pretrial confinement before even a single piece of evidence is offered against him. To put this amount of time into perspective, the Empire State Building could have been constructed almost two-and-a-half times over in the amount of time it will have taken to bring PFC Manning to trial.”

In the motion, Coombs describes in detail the prosecution’s delays in providing basic evidentiary documents, the Convening Authority’s improper exclusion of those delays from the speedy trial clock, the Government’s inexplicable inaction, and the effect this extensive pretrial incarceration has had on Bradley Manning.

Coombs then explains that the Article 10 of the U.C.M.J and R.C.M. 707, the legal precepts for a speedy trial, have been repeatedly violated. He also notes that the military has dismissed charges for much shorter periods of pretrial confinement:

“The 845 days PFC Manning has already spent in pretrial confinement dwarfs other periods of pretrial confinement that the Court of Appeals found to be facially unreasonable…”

Coombs will argue the motion in court at the October 29-November 2 hearing at Ft. Meade, MD. On October 17-18, the defense and prosecution will discuss which witnesses may be brought for this speedy trial motion.

(Read the whole motion in the link).

Surely it is not acceptable that anyone, no matter what the allegations against them might be, should have to wait 983 days for their trial to commence

In fact I love the whining over a young man who broke his oath and betrayed the trust his government had placed in him

The chance that he well ever get to walk the streets of the country he betrayed even as an old man is near zero.

It's a funny issue this "patriotism" thing, JTT.

On the one hand, if a working class person doubts what the admin are up to, they are branded as unpatriotic. When the admin is clearly shown to be acting in ways that are unpatriotic, it's simply a "national security issue" and we won't be going there.

That's all they need - the illusion that free speech exists.

Vidal's politics were always on the left side of the spectrum, and he derided the two-party system in his native land, arguing in the 1970s: "There is only one party in the United States, the Property party … and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt – until recently … and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties."

Wikileaks' Julian Assange supporters ordered to pay
(BBC News, 8 October 2012)

Nine people who put up bail sureties for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange have been ordered by a judge to pay thousands of pounds each.

Westminster Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said they must pay a total of £93,500 by 6 November.

Mr Assange's supporters offered the sureties before he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden.

He faces arrest if he leaves the embassy after breaking bail conditions.

Mr Assange has been granted political asylum by Ecuador and has been in the embassy since June.

He fears that if he is extradited to Sweden he will be sent to the US to be questioned about the whistle-blowing Wikileaks website - but this has been denied by Swedish prosecutors.

Mr Assange was arrested on an extradition warrant and is wanted for questioning in Sweden over rape and sexual assault allegations, which he denies.

Nine individuals have been told to pay amounts of between £3,500 and £15,000.

The judge said he accepted they had all acted in good faith.

"I accept that they trusted Mr Assange to surrender himself as required. I accept that they followed the proceedings and made necessary arrangements to remain in contact with him," he said.

"However, they failed in their basic duty, to ensure his surrender. They must have understood the risk and the concerns of the courts.

"Both this court and the High Court assessed that there were substantial grounds to believe the defendant would abscond, and that the risk could only be met by stringent conditions including the sureties."

Vaughan Smith, a friend of Mr Assange, addressed Westminster Magistrates Court last week on behalf of the nine people, who put up £140,000 between them.

He said all those who had offered sureties were "convinced that they have done and are doing the right thing".

The chief magistrate decided each of the backers had to pay part of the sum originally pledged, under the 1980 Magistrates Court Act.

He said: "I say immediately that I have real respect for the way that the sureties have conducted themselves in difficult circumstances.

"I am satisfied that what they have said and written accurately reflects their genuine views."

The UK has said it has a legal obligation to see that Mr Assange is handed over to Sweden.