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Assange 'to leave' Ecuador embassy
- vjvj 12y agoIt doesn't say where he is going to go. It seems to be a plea for support rather than a bone fide plan. Can't imagine being constrained to the same place for 2 years, horrible stuff.
- jacquesm 12y agoHe's most likely going to Sweden. Assange won't have much say in where he's going to but the British authorities do.
- presty 12y agothe better question is: how is he going to leave? iirc uk police were waiting outside for him to leave. he'll get detained once he sets foot outside of the embassy.
- glfharris 12y agoThe UK government is trying to get him to Sweden.
- bebna 12y agoJust some fiction: In the two years Assange was imprisoned in a Embassy, he lifted 5 times a week. He also changed his wardrobe to black suits and black shades. His hair also changed: It was now completely missing, Julian now wore a bald head. Today was the day. He had to leave the Embassy and step out to Great Britain's soil. These Brits where always waiting for him outside, always eager to attain him. But lucky for Assange, nobody expected him to be a personal body guard of a leaving diplomat. He just walked outside with the other guards and nobody checked his papers. No Officer recognized him or expected a nerd with muscles. After some meters, he split up from the group and vanished in the streets of London. Rumors say, even today he is roaming the streets, assassinating US spies and lobbyists.
- presty 12y agoMI5 probably has access to the embassy's CCTV feed and has been monitoring him ;) I prefer the version where Anonymous sends 1000 Julian Assange lookalikes to flood the embassy's entrance and that allows for Julian to escape through the sewer
- andregoiano 12y agoThomas Crown style?
- dan_bk 12y agoThe UK spends $12 million [0] of tax payer money just to monitor this 1 person. I do think that's stupid, but they are probably not stupid enough to let him slip through, after all this. [0] http://rt.com/news/178276-assange-police-cost-embassy/ http://rt.com/news/178276-assange-police-cost-embassy/
- presty 12y agoI wonder if US is footing the bill
- Lazare 12y ago> Can't imagine being constrained to the same place for 2 years, horrible stuff. Yep. A lot like prison, in fact. Which raises an interesting question: As this drags on, at some point wouldn't it have been easier for him to cooperate, go to Sweden, and take his lumps? He could just about be out on parole by now; instead he still has it hanging over his head. The whole thing seems very short sighted; the UK and Sweden aren't going to just get bored. Is he hoping to drag things out until he dies, or what?
- jacquesm 12y agoIt wasn't going to Sweden and taking his 'lumps' that Assange was afraid of, it was being extradited to the US under a to-be-unveiled charge sprung after being moved to Sweden. Assange (rightly or wrongly) believed strongly that the chances of Sweden doing such an extradition were more likely than the UK doing something similar. There is a lot of stuff about the rape charges that is fairly suspicious, I'm not sure if the risk of extradition today is as large as it was back when this all went down and maybe that figures into Assange's decision to exit the embassy now. If he goes to Sweden (which I would consider highly likely if he in fact does exit the embassy and gets apprehended by the UK authorities) I suspect the chances of him doing any significant jail time as a result of the case there are slim, so then the only thing that he should still be worried about is eventual extradition to the US on charges still to be brought, but the spotlight will be very much on Sweden pulling any fast ones in the extradition process there. Time will tell.
- Lazare 12y ago> it was being extradited to the US under a to-be-unveiled charge sprung after being moved to Sweden. That's entirely impossible under EU law. If extradited to UK to Sweden, he can ONLY be extradited from Sweden with the consent of the UK. Scenario A: The UK would agree (in which case, he didn't need to be extradited to Sweden, as he was already in UK custody). Scenario B: The UK would not agree (in which case, he cannot be extradited from Sweden). Nobody has ever been able to outline any way in which being extradited to Sweden could have increased his risk of being extradited to the US. If the US even wanted him; the UK is well known for rolling over to US extradition requests, and he was in UK custody for an extended period of time. The obvious conclusion is that the US is not especially eager to get their hands on him, since they didn't actually try. "Any extradition from Sweden to the United States would actually be more difficult. [...] there is no evidence whatsoever that the United Kingdom would not swiftly comply with any extradition request from the United States [...] the best opportunity for the United States for Assange to be extradited is whilst he is in the United Kingdom." Source: http://www.newstatesman.com/david-allen-green/2012/08/legal-myths-about-assange-extradition http://www.newstatesman.com/david-allen-green/2012/08/legal-...
- muyuu 12y agoHe's been able to work in Wikileaks these 2 years, but effectively he's been imprisoned for 2 years and it didn't even compute as serving a prison sentence.
- ps4fanboy 12y agoI really hope Sweden hands him over to the US, it will be a legacy they wont ever escape.
- exo762 12y agoFor what? Treason? He is not a US citizen.
- Myrmornis 12y agoI support Assange 100%. The harassment of him for his involvement in wikileaks was completely inappropriate, especially considering that the Guardian and New York Times worked with him on this and would be similarly culpable if there were any culpability; digging around in his sexual history was a pathetic thing to do -- if you try hard enough you would, for a substantial percentage of people (especially successful men), be able to find someone who will make a negative sexual accusation against them, especially if there are inducements to do so; and the general critiques of his character as "arrogant" etc are similarly irrelevant, and also superficial and childish.
- gadders 12y agoAs I understand it, it wasn't "digging around", but two women who reported sexual assaults that he committed.
- ps4fanboy 12y agoTwo women who were interviewed by the police at the same time, who were also friends with the police officer.
- hedwall 12y agoCan you back that up with some sort of credible source?
- ps4fanboy 12y agohttp://nnn.se/nordic/assange/sequence.htm http://nnn.se/nordic/assange/sequence.htm http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assange/docs/protocol.pdf http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assange/docs/protocol.pdf Accompanied by Anna Ardin, Sofia Wilén visits a Stockholm police station — by their own account, for the limited purpose of obtaining assistance in compelling Assange to take an HIV test. Anna Ardin is present during the interview with Ms. Wilén, which is conducted by a friend and political ally of Ms. Ardin.
- ps4fanboy 12y agoI still think being extradited for questioning is ridiculous
- dickbandit 12y agoUnless he can be smuggled out or airlifted, I can't see how he's going to avoid being arrested by the cops waiting for him. If he's planning to hand himself in, why not do it straight away?
- iaskwhy 12y agoMy immediate thought was suicide but I might be reading too much into his "soon".
- eyko 12y agoThey're probably in talks with the relevant UK government institutions. They talk about a new climate, and that "the plan is for him to leave as soon as the UK government decides to honour its obligations in relation to international agreements and calls off the siege outside - it's as simple as that."
- Dolimiter 12y agoWhat's there to talk about? He's wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations. He doesn't get to have "talks" about that. He's not the messiah.
- staunch 12y agoThe one thing spy agencies are still really good at is getting people into compromising situations. It's not hard to get someone drunk and find attractive people to hook them up with. If they're married that's all you have to do. That's how they've recruited, blackmailed, and discredited people for 60+ years. The guy lived 40 years with no sex charges and then immediately after pissing off the most powerful agencies in the world he's got two strange ones. It's possible he made criminal mistakes but even if so it's likely he was being manipulated. He easily could have been drugged without his knowledge.
- jacquesm 12y agoThere has been no suggestion whatsoever that Assange had been drugged either with or without his knowledge.
- dualogy 12y ago> There has been no suggestion whatsoever Well, until now.
- Xylakant 12y agoHe could also just have used his fame to end up in bed with two women and maybe, Swedish women are not as easily intimidated by exterior circumstances (the public shame associated with a rape case etc.) as others. It has been reported before that Assange is not exactly an easy character. It's possible that it's a set up, it's also possible that he's at the same time a person that made an important move with wikileaks and an asshole that coerced two women to have sex with him. It's just something that the courts will have to clear up. On a related note: It don't believe punishment for the charges brought against him is not severe enough to really warrant such a move from the side of the spy agencies. The damage had already been done, bringing the allegations against him in a public court in Sweden might retroactively damage Assanges credentials a little, but the documents stood quite well on their own and the expected punishment is somewhere between a couple of years on parol and a low prison sentence in a Swedish prison. I just don't buy that. It's not worth the effort.
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- contingencies 12y agoI can't believe how much misinformation exists in this thread. The facts are available: (0) Everyone knows who he pissed off and how dirty they play (1) The police transcripts were leaked almost immediately, which you can read to get a strong sense of what is going on. (2) The extremely dodgy circumstances around how the women actually got to the police have been published (one of them, who previously worked for a CIA-linked company, took the other one) (3) The extremely dodgy circumstances around how the police interviews were conducted ("we'll write down what we think you're saying" instead of "we'll record what you're saying") (4) The express wishes of the woman in question (re: "I don't want any of this disclosed", "I don't want to press any charges") were ignored by the police (5) The woman who took the other woman to the police knew the police officer in question (6) The case was totally thrown out of court (7) The case was replaced in court partly due to the involvement of a lawyer who is also a politician (8) Leading human rights organizations, EU lawyers, Sweden's own bar association and similar elevated persons have united against the handling of the case. (9) Assange got explicit permission to leave Sweden before doing so (10) The prosecutor in the case has neither interviewed him remotely nor explained why she doesn't do so, except to suggest he's guilty until proven innocent - ie. should be in Sweden when questioned - so he can be locked up! (11) Politicians and the prosecution have commented extensively in the media - so far that the head of the Swedish bar association and numerous retired lawyers in Sweden called the case a "circus" - thus precluding a fair trial. This is character assassination, pure and simple. Trial by media. There are of course still more points, these are just off the top of my head. I saw the sorry state of his Wikipedia article and took it upon myself to introduce some of the facts, so became familiar with some of them. If anyone still thinks it's a legitimate case at this point, I'm sorry, but they're just goddamn stupid. More info @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
- gillianseed 12y agoThere's been so much misinformation in this case that it's apalling. The actual case file can be obtained here: http://www.magasinetparagraf.se/bilden/forundersokningen-avseende-assange?file=files/content/bilden/forundersokningen-avseende-assange/AssangeSexAllegations.pdf http://www.magasinetparagraf.se/bilden/forundersokningen-avs... Note that it is (naturally) in Swedish, however I will translate the actual allegation (under the title 'Övergreppet') here below, english is not my native tongue so if anyone else who knows swedish have any remarks on the translation, be kind to let me know: Sexual Assault They were sitting in bed talking and he took off her clothes. They had sex again and she realised that he had only put the condom over the tip of his penis, but she let it pass. They went to sleep and she awoke with the sensation of him entering her. She immediately asked 'Are you wearing anything?' and he replied 'You'. She told him 'You better not have HIV' and he replied 'Of course not'. She felt it was too late, he was already in her so she let him continue, she was too tired to tell him once more, she had been nagging him about using a condom all night. She never had unprotected sex before. He said he wanted to come inside her, he did not say when he would but he did. A lot leaked out of her afterwards. She told him 'What if I get pregnant?'. He answered that Sweden is a good place to have kids. She jokingly told him that if she became pregnant he would have to pay her student loans. On the train to Enköping he had told her that he had slept in Anna Ardins bed after a party. She asked if he had sex with Anna but he said Anna liked girls, that she was a lesbian. Now she knows that he did the same thing with Anna. She asked him about how many he has had sex with, he responded that he didn't keep count. He said that he had HIV tested himself 3 months earlier and that he had sex with a woman after that and that she was tested and not positive. She said sarcastic things to him in a joking tone, she believes that she was trying to de-dramatize what had happened, he in turn did not seem to care. When he was told the size of her student loans he said that if he was to pay her loans then she would have to give birth to a baby. They joked that the child would be named Afghanistan. He also said that he ought to keep abortion-pills with him that would in reality be sugar-pills. His phone rang and he had a meeting with Aftonbladet (swedish newspaper) on tuesday at 12. She explained that he would not make it to that meeting, so he pushed his whole schedule ahead by one hour. After that he rode a bicycle with her on the back down to the train station. She paid his ticket to Stockholm. Before they separated he told her to keep her phone on. She asked if he was going to call and he said he would. She took the bike home, showered and changed sheets. Since she didn't make it in time for work she called in sick and stayed home. She wanted to clean up and wash everything. There was semen on the sheets and she thought it was disgusting. She also went by the drugstore and bought 'dagenefterpiller' (abortion pills). After she had discussed with her friends she realized that she had been the victim of a crime. She went to Danderyd hospital and from there to Södersjukhuset (another hospital). There she was examined and also tested using a so called 'rape-kit'.
- hadoukenio 12y agoJulian: They have been trying to take you down at every step alone the way. Now that they've broken you down, you should take them down with you. Distribute the insurance file passwords before you exit the embassy!