Im honestly a little perplexed about this whole Julian assange thing. He's accused of getting friendly with a woman who later claimed rape, right? So how is it ok for him to just run away claiming to be innocent instead of facing the music in Sweden? Don't Sweden have a reasonably good legal system where he'd be well represented etc?

Or is it acceptable now to run away from any dodgy accusations claiming innocence because, of course, you wouldn't lie about it would you?

I'm not seeing any reports about him being extradited to the USA. And whatever you think of wiki leaks, he needs to man up surely?

(FWIW I support whistle blowing in principle, I think bradley manning has been terribly treated etc etc)

(just don't know why assange should be allowed to just avoid the law)

Thing is, there is no legal framework for Sweden to guarantee he won't be extradited to the US. Additionally, it would be illegal for the Sweden to extradite him to face any kind of conditions that would be illegal in the EU - i.e., the death penalty or torture.

Additionally, from what I understand, the Swedish justice system won't let them formally charge him until he goes in for questioning. And why would they come here - that's just not how it works. At the end of the day, he's a suspect, not a witness and Sweden have summoned him.

It's not that different to how it works here - if you're wanted for questioning, as a suspect, about a crime then the police will come and arrest you. If they can't find you or you skip the country then a European arrest warrant will be issued. British Police are not then going to come to speak to you wherever you get picked up - you'll be flown back and be arrested and interviewed in a Police Station like everyone else.

Most of what you've said comes across as excuses for a man who is beginning to look like a right bastard. It's not some minor shoplifting offence he's wanted to answer questions about, it's rape. And what Dan said - if you were wanted to answer questions over a possible rape charge, you'd be arrested and questioned. The police wouldn't be following you all over the world in order to get answers, they'd get the local lot to grab you and you'd be extradited.

It appears to me that his excuse for not doing what anyone else would be expected to do is that wiki leaks is too important in terms of free speech and open-ness and that he should somehow be treated differently. That's complete rubbish, he's an individual and nobody's that important. I absolutely support the concept of free speech and whistle blowing when it's needed but this person is coming across as a knob. If he was (a) that sure he was innocent and (b) missing his family as much as he claims, he'd deal with it.

How can they possibly keep the promise when there is now law for them to do so? Bitch about there not being one by all means, but there's no pre-emptive way to say "That person can't be extradited" - do you not see the huge potential for abuse?

It's one thing to have the legal arguments once the extradition request is made, but I really don't' see how it could possibly work before hand?

It's acting outside of the law because there are no laws to govern this. I don't that it's illegal, just untested and not legislated for.

I kind of agree with your last sentence, but it's very much a grey area - especially with more modern crimes. I'm not completely against Assange and I do think the US extradition treaties have some major issues, namely that their hugely biased and one sided - but it's still kind of a side point as one hasn't been made.

Alternatively, you could state why you think that and we could have some kind of meaningful debate on a very sensitive and important topic, hopefully widening understandings and making the world (at least the very small corners that Teh touches) a slightly better place to exist.

Or we could shut down debate because OMG RAPE.

                                                
                                                
                                                
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