Saturday 7 July 2012

Julian Assange is not the Metropolitan Police

Court judgment, security, politics
More about

Julian Assange applied for political asylum in Ecuador
Update: Supreme Court confirms verdict delivered against Julian Assange
Stratfor first-mails are available on Wikileaks
"Spy Files": Wikileaks publishes data to monitor industry
The founder of Wikileaks is a request from the Metropolitan police did not follow to get accustomed to the nearest police station and to ask the Metropolitan Police. Instead of exiting Attorney Susan Benn, Julian Assange Defence Fund on Friday before a statement from the embassy in Ecuador, in the Assange refuge and has applied for political asylum.

Julian Assange
"This should not be seen as a sign of disrespect," she said. Under both international and British law, an asylum procedure would have precedence over extradition request. "Mr. Assange is faced with serious problems. His life and his freedom as well as the lives and freedom of its organization and its affiliated persons are at stake."



Assange is particularly concerned that he might be after his extradition to Sweden in the USA where it is charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, which provides, in severe cases of espionage, even the death penalty. The extradition request from Sweden based on allegations of sexual assault and coercion, which are disputed by Assange. The UK Supreme Court had decided in June to extradite the Wikileaks founders of Sweden.

A petition of Just Foreign Policy Action with four thousand signatures has now asked the Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, grant the Wikileaks founder in his country of asylum. The signatories include documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, philosopher and actor Danny Glover.

"We believe that Mr. Assange has good reason to fear extradition to Sweden, because he would most likely imprisoned and then probably delivered in the U.S.," says the petition. "We ask you to grant political asylum to Mr. Assange, because to have been his" crime "consisted in his journalistic work. He has revealed serious crimes against humanity by the U.S. government."

The U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed ongoing criminal investigation against Wikileaks. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Committee on the Intelligence services in the U.S. Senate, called on repeatedly to prosecute Julian Assange for espionage. "I believe that Mr. Assange has knowingly acquired and disseminated confidential information, which could result in harm to the United States," she said over the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald. "It has harmed the national security of the United States significantly and should be prosecuted for it."

No comments:

Post a Comment