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Yes, being cooped up in an embassy for years while state actors hold phony charges against you threatening your arrest must be for the thrill of it.
by skylan_q 10y ago
Yes, being cooped up in an embassy for years while state actors hold phony charges against you threatening your arrest must be for the thrill of it.
- alex_hitchins 10y agoHe can leave at any time remember. The locks are on the inside of his door. EDIT: Awesome! Downvoted with no comment!
- skylan_q 10y agoIf he leaves, he goes to jail.
- alex_hitchins 10y agoBut he can leave. He isn't in jail. It is his choice to stay where he is. I really can't see why people insist he is being held there against his will.
- skylan_q 10y agoYes, you're right. I suppose it is a very comfortable position to be in and we should envy him. Thanks!
- alex_hitchins 10y agoI'm not sure it's a position that would be envied as such, I guess everyone is different. I suppose if you were wanted for questioning by police for a serious crime that you wanted to evade and you hadn't got a friendly government seeking positive news coverage to give you a legal loophole to remain at large, you might.
- xlxlxlx 10y agoThe post you replied to was being sarcastic. "Questioning by police" is an enormous understatement. If Assange leaves the embassy, he will be arrested, extradited to the US, and likely convicted of treason. His fate would at best look something like Chelsea Manning's, and at worst, execution.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> If Assange leaves the embassy, he will be arrested, extradited to the US, and likely convicted of treason. Almost certainly not. The Constitutional definition of treason in the US is such that it is pretty much never charged, outside of TV shows and movies. The charges usually discussed in the context of the ongoing US criminal investigation of Assange are violations of the Espionage Act, violations of the CFAA, theft/conversion of US government property, and conspiracy. OTOH, the government that has actually requested his extradition is Sweden, and not for anything related to national security matters.
- alex_hitchins 10y agoOh, I see. As others have pointed out, very unlikely he could be done for treason given he isn't American. But let's not let facts get in the way of some good down voting.
- whamlastxmas 10y agoYou're right, as a non-American he'd just get sent to Gitmo where he faces indefinite detention without any recourse, without any legal rights or constitutionally required due process, and endless torture+interrogations for the rest of his life. But at least he can't be found guilty of treason in a constitutionally bound American court system by a jury of peers!
- alex_hitchins 10y agoHave any changes been made against him in the US to date? Genuinely don't know the answer and a cursory search I can't see anything obvious. Also, why would the US not have an extradition request for him open with the UK? The UK would be much more likely to do as the USA pleases than Sweden.