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This confuses me. Are the Swedes more likely to extradite people to the US than the UK are? If not, I don't understand your point... I'm a Brit, and I was unde

This confuses me. Are the Swedes more likely to extradite people to the US than the UK are? If not, I don't understand your point... I'm a Brit, and I was under the impression that our government bends over and gives the US anyone they want, whereas the Swedes give a shit about peoples rights... I'd have thought Assange is safer from the US in Sweden than he was in the UK. Plus he'll find it a lot easier to travel to different countries if he's on mainland Europe (assuming he's not imprisoned for this rape stuff)

jka 15y ago
It's difficult to tell - the U.K. courts until recently had seemed (following heavy lawyering from Assange) to be allowing him to stay in the country under curfew, but this recent ruling seems to overturn that. There was a bit of an outcry last year when it turned out that the U.S. had been performing surveillance around their embassies in Norway, and I remember reading some suggestions at the time that there was actually Norwegian co-operation to some extent - but I'd have to dig back in detail to find the reports. There was also an admission around the same time that similar monitoring had been taking place in Sweden. And finally, one of the Swedish prosecutors raised very early on the possibility of extraditing Assange to the U.S. following prosecution. Here are a few reading references to back these up - as mentioned in this thread, it's far from clear without knowing the full details, but here are some pieces to fill out the context: * Swedish charges leaked http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/wikileaks-sweden/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/wikileaks-sweden/ * U.S. Surveillance in Norway http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/11/04/officials-howling-over-us-embassys-secret-surveillance-in-norway/ http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/11/04/officials-howling-ove... * Similar surveillance admission in Sweden http://www.thelocal.se/30062/20101106/# http://www.thelocal.se/30062/20101106/# * Prosecutor's suggestions regarding extradition from Sweden to U.S. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/swedish-prosecutor-raises-possible-extradition-of-wikileaks-founder-to-u-s/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/swedish-prosecut...
- jeza 15y ago
  Something else worth noting which the last url suggests is that Sweden can't just extradite him to the US at their own will. It would also have to be approved by Britain.
arethuza 15y ago
"our government bends over and gives the US anyone they want" I'm pretty sure the UK doesn't hand over people who may face the death penalty - although it wouldn't surprise me if there was an exclusion to this sensible rule for the US. http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/fact_sheets/extradition/ http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/fact_sheets/extradition/
- jeza 15y ago
  I would doubt there is any exception to this policy for the US. See also: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-security/death-penalty/ http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-...
chalst 15y ago
Assange's camp put out an argument that it was technically much harder to extradite from the UK than Sweden, for both legal and diplomatic reasons. http://www.swedenversusassange.com/US-Extradition.html http://www.swedenversusassange.com/US-Extradition.html
gillianseed 15y ago
-"whereas the Swedes give a shit about peoples rights..." You must be thinking about the days when we had guys like Olof Palme (who incidentally got shot). Nowadays we are being run by a right-wing coalition dominated by 'Moderaterna', which is the only political party in Sweden refusing to declare from where they get their campaign money. Just recently they also tried to take credit for being part of the movement for equal vote and against apartheid, when in reality they were against womens right to vote and also was the only party who did not want sanctions against apartheid, hilarious. Not that our government being right-wing has anything to do with Assange, no matter what government we'd have sitting today (left,right) they would bend to US pressure just as quickly.

jka 15y ago

It's difficult to tell - the U.K. courts until recently had seemed (following heavy lawyering from Assange) to be allowing him to stay in the country under curfew, but this recent ruling seems to overturn that. There was a bit of an outcry last year when it turned out that the U.S. had been performing surveillance around their embassies in Norway, and I remember reading some suggestions at the time that there was actually Norwegian co-operation to some extent - but I'd have to dig back in detail to find the reports. There was also an admission around the same time that similar monitoring had been taking place in Sweden. And finally, one of the Swedish prosecutors raised very early on the possibility of extraditing Assange to the U.S. following prosecution. Here are a few reading references to back these up - as mentioned in this thread, it's far from clear without knowing the full details, but here are some pieces to fill out the context: * Swedish charges leaked http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/wikileaks-sweden/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/wikileaks-sweden/ * U.S. Surveillance in Norway http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/11/04/officials-howling-over-us-embassys-secret-surveillance-in-norway/ http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/11/04/officials-howling-ove... * Similar surveillance admission in Sweden http://www.thelocal.se/30062/20101106/# http://www.thelocal.se/30062/20101106/# * Prosecutor's suggestions regarding extradition from Sweden to U.S. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/swedish-prosecutor-raises-possible-extradition-of-wikileaks-founder-to-u-s/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/swedish-prosecut...

jeza 15y ago
Something else worth noting which the last url suggests is that Sweden can't just extradite him to the US at their own will. It would also have to be approved by Britain.

arethuza 15y ago

"our government bends over and gives the US anyone they want" I'm pretty sure the UK doesn't hand over people who may face the death penalty - although it wouldn't surprise me if there was an exclusion to this sensible rule for the US. http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/fact_sheets/extradition/ http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/fact_sheets/extradition/

jeza 15y ago
I would doubt there is any exception to this policy for the US. See also: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-security/death-penalty/ http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/justice-...

chalst 15y ago

Assange's camp put out an argument that it was technically much harder to extradite from the UK than Sweden, for both legal and diplomatic reasons. http://www.swedenversusassange.com/US-Extradition.html http://www.swedenversusassange.com/US-Extradition.html

gillianseed 15y ago

-"whereas the Swedes give a shit about peoples rights..." You must be thinking about the days when we had guys like Olof Palme (who incidentally got shot). Nowadays we are being run by a right-wing coalition dominated by 'Moderaterna', which is the only political party in Sweden refusing to declare from where they get their campaign money. Just recently they also tried to take credit for being part of the movement for equal vote and against apartheid, when in reality they were against womens right to vote and also was the only party who did not want sanctions against apartheid, hilarious. Not that our government being right-wing has anything to do with Assange, no matter what government we'd have sitting today (left,right) they would bend to US pressure just as quickly.