Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange

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[boodog]

Swedish authorities issue an arrest warrant for the founder of whistleblowers' website on suspicion of rape and molestation

Assange has denied the charges, which were first reported by the Swedish tabloid Expressen, on Wikileaks' Twitter account.

"We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks'. Now we have the first one."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/21/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrest-warrant-sweden

[boodog]

Rape warrant against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange cancelled

That was fast-

Swedish authorities have withdrawn an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, stating that the accusation of rape against him was unfounded.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/21/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrest-warrant-sweden

[Irishgirl]

I have been following this today. I don't think the general public were going to fall for that smear. It was just too obvious!

[Sirenoftitan]

<snip>
There had been speculation that Assange's arrest would prompt WikiLeaks to post a secret code that would decrypt a massive "insurance file" on its site, the contents of which are the subject of frenzied speculation. The file dwarfs the size of all the other files on the WikiLeaks Afghanistan page combined, prompting claims that it contains a huge amount of top-secret material. But sceptics believe the file is simply an elaborate bluff and contains nothing revelatory.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, a colleague, of Assange's, said he had not known of the charges "until he read them in the rightwing tabloid Expressen". Hrafnsson said: "There are powerful organisations who want to do harm to WikiLeaks."

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder hits out at rape smears as Swedish warrant for his arrest is withdrawn by Jamie Doward and Tracy McVeigh, The Observer

[daMamma]

I can see where there would be some (guilty parties) that would want this guy and his site stopped dead in its tracks.  If he were slandered hard enough to destroy his credibility then perhaps everything could be called into question. 

For some, (guilty parties) ruinous secrets need to stay under the rug. 

[pacos_gal]

And now the charges have been reopened against Assange in Sweden. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_15960183

The case was dismissed last week by Eva Finne, chief prosecutor in Stockholm, who overruled a lower-ranked prosecutor and said there was no reason to suspect that Assange, an Australian citizen, had raped a Swedish woman who had reported him to police.

The woman's lawyer appealed the decision. Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny decided to reopen the case Wednesday, saying new information had come in on Tuesday.

"We went through all the case material again, including what came in, and that's when I made my decision," to reopen the case, Ny told The Associated Press by phone.

[Sirenoftitan]

Ecuador has offered Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, residency in the country.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kintto Lucas said his country's government wanted to invite Mr Assange to Ecuador to give him the opportunity to speak publicly.

He said Ecuador was concerned about some of the alleged American activities revealed by Wikileaks.

Earlier this year Sweden refused an application from Mr Assange, who is Australian, for residency there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11874911

[futurexpat?]

Good. That takes some courage on their part, but I think in general South America is standing up to the US more these days.

[Kilia]

I sure hope that nothing bad happens to Juilian. So many people are pulling for him in this. Including me.

[Sirenoftitan]

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, is tonight facing growing legal problems around the world, with the US announcing that it was investigating whether he had violated its espionage laws.

Assange's details were also added to Interpol's worldwide wanted list. Dated 30 November, the entry reads: "sex crimes" and says the warrant has been issued by the international public prosecution office in Gothenburg, Sweden. "If you have any information contact your national or local police." It reads: "Wanted: Assange, Julian Paul," and gives his birthplace as Townsville, Australia.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/30/interpol-wanted-notice-julian-assange

[Sirenoftitan]

<snip>
But before you call someone a criminal, you have to have a law that you can say he broke. Holder is going to have a hard time doing that with Assange.

If the attorney general were confident, he wouldn’t have answered a reporter’s question about difficulties in prosecuting Assange this way:

“To the extent there are gaps in the laws, we will move to close those gaps.”

This is essentially an acknowledgement of a hole in the law. And even if prosecutors can leap across that, they’d then face a really big hurdle in the form of the First Amendment.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/wikileaks-founder-lurks-beyond-grip-of-u-s-law-commentary-by-ann-woolner.html

[futurexpat?]

And any changes in the law would not cover what he has already done.

[pacos_gal]

Panic mode all at once is how Foreign Policy has described sentiments in the embassy world. 
Only 291 of the expected 251,287 documents have been released so far.  It's going to be a long winter at this rate.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/11/30/beltway_bandits_scramble_to_deal_with_wikileaks_fallout

Working as a Washington lobbyist for a foreign country is usually a pretty sweet gig. These hired guns keep governments informed on anything in town that could affect their country's diplomatic or political interests -- for a hefty monthly fee, of course. Lobbyists apply added elbow grease when relevant legislation needs cheerleading on Capitol Hill. Consultants work harder when foreign officials are in town or there's a pressing bilateral issue. But overall, crises are relatively rare.

Not this week, though: It's all hands on deck on K Street, as firms are fielding frantic and constant requests from diplomats in foreign capitals, trying to make sense of the released and soon-to-be-released WikiLeaks State Department cables.

"When was the last time that every embassy and every consultancy in town went into crisis mode simultaneously," one consultant with clients in Europe and Asia told The Cable. This consultant said that his firm has been totally swamped since Sunday's initial document dump with panicked emails, rushed conference calls, and requests for information.

[pacos_gal]

Homeland Security is hot on the trail on Assange.  The wikileaks website was down on Wednesday due to their hosting site Amazon.com taking them down.  I believe they are back up now.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3du0Lu/www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/wikileaks-website-pummeled-attacks-loses-home/

The website of WikiLeaks, the organization that just released a trove of sensitive U.S. State Department documents, appears to have lost or left its main Web host, Amazon.com.

The main website and a sub-site devoted to the diplomatic documents were unavailable from the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday, as Amazon servers refused to acknowledge requests for data.

Availability of the sites has been spotty since Sunday, when it started to come under a series of Internet-based attacks by unknown hackers. WikiLeaks dealt with the attacks in part by moving to servers run by Amazon Web Services, which is self-service.

[Kilia]

One can see the cables here:

http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/

[Sirenoftitan]

Sweden's top court has rejected an attempt by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to appeal against a detention order issued for him over alleged sexual crimes.

The Supreme Court said it would not grant leave for Mr Assange to appeal against an earlier ruling.

Mr Assange has not been charged and denies the allegations, which stem from a visit to Sweden in August.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11898323

[pacos_gal]

I have to say that if what I am reading is true at various places around the internet then I have some issues with this whole red warrant thing through Interpol. 
The problem as I see is that Sweden has not charged Assange with any crimes.  The warrant is for him to appear to be questioned.  His lawyer has offered to have him meet with Swedish officials at an embassy and they have turned this down.  The whole charges laid, then charges withdrawn, then charges laid again thing at the beginning, makes one question the validity of the evidence to begin with. 
I don't know if he committed any crimes, if he did and they have evidence, then charge him and get it over with.  That they haven't actually done that is questionable in itself.
Interpol actually within EU law, cannot issue a red warrant for another warrant that is for questioning without a criminal charge, yet they have done so. 
There is no way to get a red warrant withdrawn without a proof of innocence.  This whole things smacks of questionable behavior on the part of law enforcement.
There are procedures that have to be followed and I just don't see that happening here.  Those procedures and laws are in place to protect the citizens and should not be able to be circumvented as a matter of convenience.
What next, rendition?
This gives some perspective on my thoughts.
http://agonist.org/actor_212/20101201/taking_the_piss

Now, a Red Notice is Napoleonic in nature. The fugitive has to prove his innocence before it's lifted, and he is presumed guilty of the charges until he's tried and exonerated. There are actually two Red Notices: one is an arrest warrant, the other is for a fugitive who has been tried, convicted, and sentenced. Interpol claims that there is no arrest warrant on Assange, meaning he's wanted for fleeing a sentence.

Um, excuse me? He hasn't even been tried yet. Effectively, he's being chased down across the globe to be arrested, but yet, there's no international arrest warrant other than the Swedes own BOLO.

This disturbs me. Here we have two events that involve no physical evidence of a crime being committed, only evidence that the events happened. Yet, Assange is being equated to Osama bin Laden in criminality.

Read the entire article.  Then in links previously provided within this thread you will find more information on the charges. 
What one should also remember is that with the release by wikileaks of the US State documents and cables, almost every country in the world would like to get their hands on Assange.  Does the Interpol warrant and the Swedish warrant have anything to do with pressure from outside governments?  There are many questions to be answered in this mess, not least of all being whether a crime was committed in Sweden or not. 

[bubbles]

the new world government is going to crucify Assange. i am starting to think maybe the crazed militia folk might have a point.
this man has become a wanted man; hunted like an animal throughout the whole world. hmmm. i wonder when we can expect the movie premiere starring Julian Assange as himself. what a disaster for everyone. the lives of many innocent people are going to be affected by this.

[Kilia]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/12/02/wikileaks.cave.server/index.html

But WikiLeaks, which is known for publishing state secrets, apparently has found a new home for its files: A Cold War bunker, inside a Swedish mountain, that's been described as fit for a "James Bond" movie.

Simply amazing!

[pacos_gal]

A new arrest warrant has been issued to Britain for the arrest of Assange.  They expect him to be arrested in the next couple of days. 
I have to say that Assange does not appear to be trying to hide from authorities.  His lawyer has contacted police in Britain to let them know his whereabouts in case they need that information.  His lawyer has also made a statement that they will fight extradition through the British court system. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/net-closes-on-assange-arrest-by-british-police-expected-in-days-2149805.html 

Police sources have previously said that they received a letter from Mr Assange's UK-based lawyer, Mark Stephens, containing information about how to contact Mr Assange should they need to.

Details of the new arrest warrant came as a last-ditch attempt to have the allegations against Mr Assange dropped failed. Sweden's highest court upheld the arrest order and refused to let him appeal against a lower court's ruling.

Last night, Mr Assange's family spoke of their fears for his safety after increasingly shrill statements from American commentators who have called for his assassination. His mother, Christine Assange, said "the forces that he's challenging are too big".