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> I find the idea of the threat of prosecution in a free country as a form of "torture" a bit questionable. Yeah, it's funny how HN typically goes evidence-fre

> I find the idea of the threat of prosecution in a free country as a form of "torture" a bit questionable. Yeah, it's funny how HN typically goes evidence-free where pet politics is concerned. I'll eat my hat if someone on here can name a single precedent of someone being tortured in the U.S. before being tried for a crime similar to what Assange would be accused of. Edit: and citations, please!

specialist 7y ago
Why the qualifier? What measure of proof do you require? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible_ignorance_fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible_ignorance_fallacy
mcv 7y ago
Examples of people being tortured in the US are plenty. It all depends on what you mean by "similar to what Assange would be accused of". He was accused of rape, which is one of the few crimes that the US takes much more lightly than Sweden does.
- tripzilch 7y ago
  Especially prison rape! The US takes it so lightly they even have a cute euphemism for it, "to pick up the soap", which allows you to lightly joke about sexual abuse punishment fantasies in polite company!
  - mcv 7y ago
    I've even seen joking references to prison rape in children's shows, which really makes me wonder what's wrong with people.
dnautics 7y ago
Eugene Debs
chmod775 7y ago
> similar to what assange would be accused of That's oddly specific, but still be careful what you're asking for. "Police torture suspect" gives a lot of results, for example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge There's a good chance some of those 200 cases were rape cases. Then there is also the torture of terrorism suspects, if you wish to take that angle since Assange has repeatedly been labeled a terrorist. Here's two more Wikipedia articles that may be interesting to you: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_State... Especially interesting may be the "Domestic Torture in Modern Times" section if you wish to focus on what happened domestically. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techn... Always worth a read.
kls 7y ago
Given that he is not a US citizen, one could make the argument that he was engaged in cyber warfare against the US, thus legally classified as an enemy combatant, subject to special magistrate court and incarcerate-able at an offshore detention facility. Rules on detainee handling there are more lax and sentencing has no guidelines at least no published ones. I would consider that possible path of prosecution and even the threat of it to be torture.
stjohnswarts 7y ago
All you have to do is do a google search for people dying of health conditions because the cops ignored them, people lying on the ground beaten half to death, out cold, while cops yell "stop resisting arrest!", guys on the ground shot for not crawling up to the cops right, the list goes on and on.

specialist 7y ago

Why the qualifier? What measure of proof do you require? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible_ignorance_fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible_ignorance_fallacy

mcv 7y ago

Examples of people being tortured in the US are plenty. It all depends on what you mean by "similar to what Assange would be accused of". He was accused of rape, which is one of the few crimes that the US takes much more lightly than Sweden does.

tripzilch 7y ago
Especially prison rape! The US takes it so lightly they even have a cute euphemism for it, "to pick up the soap", which allows you to lightly joke about sexual abuse punishment fantasies in polite company!
- mcv 7y ago
  I've even seen joking references to prison rape in children's shows, which really makes me wonder what's wrong with people.

dnautics 7y ago

Eugene Debs

chmod775 7y ago

> similar to what assange would be accused of That's oddly specific, but still be careful what you're asking for. "Police torture suspect" gives a lot of results, for example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge There's a good chance some of those 200 cases were rape cases. Then there is also the torture of terrorism suspects, if you wish to take that angle since Assange has repeatedly been labeled a terrorist. Here's two more Wikipedia articles that may be interesting to you: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_State... Especially interesting may be the "Domestic Torture in Modern Times" section if you wish to focus on what happened domestically. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techn... Always worth a read.

kls 7y ago

Given that he is not a US citizen, one could make the argument that he was engaged in cyber warfare against the US, thus legally classified as an enemy combatant, subject to special magistrate court and incarcerate-able at an offshore detention facility. Rules on detainee handling there are more lax and sentencing has no guidelines at least no published ones. I would consider that possible path of prosecution and even the threat of it to be torture.

stjohnswarts 7y ago

All you have to do is do a google search for people dying of health conditions because the cops ignored them, people lying on the ground beaten half to death, out cold, while cops yell "stop resisting arrest!", guys on the ground shot for not crawling up to the cops right, the list goes on and on.