Julian Assange Trial (legal, suspect, independent, fence)

[ocpaul20]

This is a warning of the way things look to me like they are going. Please take note.

The USA fears Communism and is dead against it, well, if this isn't the USA becoming a communist state, I dont see much difference.

People have been criticizing China for locking up people who speak out against the state, but now the USA is prosecuting Julian Assange for exactly the same thing. The prosecution in the trial has changed its direction. If they have their way now, any journalist anywhere will be able to be prosecuted, not for disclosing proper secret secrets but also for disclosing anything which harms the national interests as the prosecution is putting it.

This is where it is all starting to get dangerous and the control exerted is moving to another higher level. If journalists cannot hold the government to account for their actions, then the government has free reign to do as they please. This is what they want and these actions are aimed at squashing any and all voices against it. Which exactly what everyone is accusing the communists of doing. Do you want that?

US government plans to prosecute any journalist anywhere in the world who it deems to have committed "disclosure of secrets which harm the national interest" (which in Assange's case means exposing US war crimes), anyone on earth who actually plans on doing real journalism which holds real power to account is at risk.

Source

It is easy to ignore the Julian Assange trial because it is in Australia, but now it affects everyone because it threatens the way the government can control its people in the USA. Little by little the net of control is getting tighter and tighter until we will turn around and find we are completely bound, not able to do anything against the government.

No doubt people will have a go at me for this post, but it is ultimately up to you to accept the level of control getting more and more restrictive or to take back to power which has been given away. It is just sad to see the Constitution being eroded away more and more until it is just a pathetic scrap of paper which does not mean anything. People gave their lives for that piece of paper.

[Brave New World]

Sadly I think Assange will probably be extradited due to differences in the way suspects are extradited from the UK to the US, however there is pressure to amend this post 9/11 extradition agreement signed by the UK, and this will only increase if the US start extraditing journalists and interfering with the right to a free press and media.

Currently in the UK "prima facie", evidence that the suspect is guilty is not needed to extradite to the US however it is needed to extradite from US to the UK, so the US merely needs to prove their is a case and nothing beyond that.

The only possible get out clauses for Assange is firstly the offence being deemed political due to the freedom of the media to report, and that the classified information was in the public interest, and secondly human rights relating to his heath and well being in the US prison system.

Here is how current extradition from the UK to US currently works.

Originally Posted by BBC News

Must evidence of guilt be provided for extradition?

No. Under British law, many nations do not have to provide our judges with detailed, or "prima facie", evidence that the suspect is guilty.

What this means in practice is that a British judge does not need to be sure that the individual would be convicted at the end of a trial.

The requesting nations in this category are simply required to explain to our courts that there is a case that needs answering - and our judges take their word for it.

That is because the UK has concluded that each of these countries - which includes the US - has laws and safeguards in place that guarantee independent judges and a legal right to a fair trial.

Other nations would have to provide fuller evidence of their case to a British court.

In contrast, the US will not send someone to face trial in the UK before its judges are sure the evidence is strong. That is because the US Constitution says nobody can be arrested and detained without proof of "probable cause" - a standard legal test in all its criminal cases.

Julian Assange: What is extradition and how does it work? - BBC News

[ocpaul20]

Yes, he's not in Australia, I made a mistake. There was a huge demonstration in favour of that Gary McKinnon guy I seem to remember and the UK government listened to the people IIRC. Maybe someone will do the same for Assange. It is unfair that we allow the US to have a better extradition agreement than we do with them, although we dont seem to persue people quite as much as they do. It really is all about the freedom of the press to keep an eye on what governments and the military do. Someone has to police them, but the press is not unbiased by any means.