Swedish prosecutors are dropping their investigation into Julian Assange
Swedish prosecutors said on Friday they would drop a preliminary investigation into an allegation of rape against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday, bringing to an end an epic seven-year legal stand-off.

However, he's not a free man just yet.

"Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny has today decided to discontinue the preliminary investigation regarding suspected rape concerning Julian Assange," the prosecutors office said in a statement. It is being dropped because the investigators cannot proceed, rather than because the prosecutors reached any decision on whether or not Assange is guilty.

The investigation could be reopend if he revists Sweden before August 2020.

Julian Assange responded to the initial news on Twitter by posting a photo of him smiling.

Assange, 45, has lived in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, after taking refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden over the allegation of rape, which he denies.

Assange has maintained that if he went to Sweden to answer questions about the allegations, he would then be extradited to the US for his political activities with Wikileaks.

The Wikileaks founder pictured on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Peter Nichols/Reuters

It's not immediately clear if or when Assange will try leave the embassy — Wikileaks did not immediately respond to a message from Business Insider seeking comment.

But the official Wikileaks account indicated in a tweet that the organisation is still concerned about a potential extradition to the US. It tweeted: "UK refuses to confirm or deny whether it has already received a US extradition warrant for Julian Assange. Focus now moves to UK."

The Metropolitan Police, meanwhile, has said that it will still arrest Assange if he tries to leave. A warrant was issued in 2012 because he failed to surrender to a court (instead taking refuge in the embassy). This warrant remains in force, even though the allegations are no longer being investigated.

"The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy," the law enforcement organisation said in a statement.

"Whilst Mr Assange was wanted on a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for an extremely serious offence, the MPS response reflected the serious nature of that crime. Now that the situation has changed and the Swedish authorities have discontinued their investigation into that matter, Mr Assange remains wanted for a much less serious offence. The MPS will provide a level of resourcing which is proportionate to that offence."

Failure to surrender is punishable with up to 12 months in prison, per the Crown Prosecution Service's website.

 

Seven years for rape sounds about right!

Thinskin

 

Nigel Farage halts interview after questions about Julian Assange and Russia links
The former Ukip leader called the German journalist 'a nutcase', 'mad' and 'away with the fairies', because he disliked his line of questioning

Nigel Farage abruptly ended an interview with a German newspaper because the reporter asked him about his relationships with Russia and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Mr Farage described interviewer Steffen Dobbert from Zeit Online as “a nutcase”, “mad” and “away with the fairies”, when Mr Dobbert suggested Ukip and Russia shared an agenda, asked why Mr Farage met with Mr Assange, and said after Brexit it might be harder for British people to travel to the European Union.

Eventually, on the advice of his press spokesman — who reportedly interrupted the interview several times — the eurosceptic MEP ended the conversation and asked Mr Dobbert to leave the room.

Reminding Mr Farage that he has said in the past he admires Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zeit Online asked the politician if — given that “one of Russia's foreign policy goals is dividing and weakening the EU” — he could have been “used for this Russian goal”?

Mr Farage responded: “I want the EU to be destroyed and it doesn’t matter if God or the Dalai Lama wants it as well.”

He added a personal attack on Mr Dobbert, saying: “You know, you are the first person who has asked me if Russia supported me. Maybe you have a special German mindset. No other journalist in the world has asked these questions.”

Mr Farage stated that Ukip has no links to Russia, and denied meeting with the Russian Embassy’s deputy chief-of-mission in London.

“Not in 2013, before the Brexit campaign was conceived?” Zeit Online asked. Mr Farage replied: “Ah, hang on. He came to the EP office. Or I met with him in London. So what?

“I think you are a nutcase! You are really a nutcase!

"Brexit is the best thing to happen," he added, "for Russia, for America, for Germany and for democracy. And that's the key point.”

But it was speculation that Brexit would result in travel difficulties for British citizens that made Mr Farage finally shut down the interview.

"You are away with the fairies," he told Mr Dobbert, who had said Brexit could result in a new border in Europe.

"You must be mad. I have never heard anything so immature in all my life. Because of Brexit I will lose my option to travel to Hamburg?"

He added: "You should be on a comedy show, not be a journalist."

 

Pretty light sentence if the allegations are founded ...

He will still end up in at least a holding cell on a UK wide warrant related to skipping (jumping bail) on authorities to take refuge in the Embassy.

He still needs to dodge extradition to the USA on charges there ...

 

YAY, I won a bet that Nicole would make a thread about this since she wouldn't see this one due to her having everyone other than ms.man on ignore LOL. I'm starting to wonder if she is ms.man ???

My "lucky charms" will be getting licked tonight LOL.

 

First Manning, now Assange. The world is slowly getting right again.

 

Nope. UK still has arrest warrant. Hopefully the US hangs him by his balls along with Snowden. Just do not like treason.

 

He is an Australian citizen and has not committed a crime in the United States, it may be something of a fetch for have him extradited for any offence. And it is certainly not treason.

Sweden has some of the most advanced laws regarding sexual crimes, and in the civilised part of the world, that is about the tariff. He has effectively spent 7 years incarcerated and Ecuador has paid the tab. Conditions would have been better in a Scandinavian lockup. Pretty clever on Sweden's part.

 

Its an interesting situation.
The world needs watchdogs .
Which implies it needs whistleblowers.

We all are and would be very happy with anything and everything anyone exposed about NK ,
or Russia , or China , etc etc.
Panama ?
What is going on in Sudan ?

So who's line gets followed ?

How do we define a good whistle blower from a bad one ?

Well of course it depends where we are.
What we want.
Who it effects , related to our own interests.


But it's a global community nowadays.
Who's skulduggery is acceptable ,
and who's is not ?

 

Edward Snowden and others urge Trump to drop case against Assange

Edward Snowden and Noam Chomsky are among those calling on Donald Trump to drop the US government’s investigation into Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

The pair – along with more than 100 other activists, journalists and government workers – have signed an open letter to the president that calls prosecuting WikiLeaks “a threat to all free journalism”. The letter asks the Department of Justice to drop plans to charge Assange and other WikiLeaks staff members.

“If the DoJ is able to convict a publisher for its journalistic work, all free journalism can be criminalised,” says the open letter, released on Monday by the Courage Foundation, a trust that raises funds for the legal defenses of whistleblowers, including Snowden. The group launched a campaign in support of WikiLeaks last month.

Trump praised WikiLeaks on the campaign trail, telling a Pennsylvania rally in October 2016: “I love WikiLeaks.” The organization had leaked Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Others in his administration, however, have not expressed the same enthusiasm.

The US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, said last month that Assange’s arrest was a “priority” for the US. Sessions’ words prompted the open letter.

The letter to Trump reads: “It was a free and robust press that provided you with a platform on which to run for president. Defending a truly free press requires freedom from fear and favour and the support of journalists and citizens everywhere; for the kind of threat now facing WikiLeaks – and all publishers and journalists – is a step into the darkness.”

The signatories also include the musician PJ Harvey, the former British intelligence officer Annie Machon, the Australian senator Lee Rhiannon and the philosopher Slavoj Žižek.

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US prosecutors have been investigating WikiLeaks since at least 2010, when it released more than 250m classified cables from US embassies around the world. The cables were passed to WikiLeaks by Chelsea Manning – a former US army intelligence analyst who is also backed by the Courage Foundation – and were published in cooperation with news organizations including the Guardian.

In April, Sessions was asked at a press conference in Texas whether it was a priority for the justice department to arrest Assange “once and for all”. He said: “We are going to step up our effort, and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks. This is a matter that’s gone beyond anything I’m aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks, and some of them are quite serious.”

He added: “So yes, it is a priority. We’ve already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.”

The US has not been able to prosecute Assange because he has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in Britain since 2012. If he were to leave the embassy, British authorities have indicated they would have to first consider an existing extradition request from Sweden, where Assange is wanted on an allegation of rape, which he denies.

 

I know this is "out there" but I can't look at this image without thinking of the Back To The Future film where Michael J Fox played a female role ...

 

How would a foreigner be criminally guilty of leaking anything? Assange isn't obligated to America not to release information, whether it turns out true or false. Snowden is another matter. He is a treasonous fuck that should be dropped under a jail, even if what he divulged is disturbing as to what our government does in name of security. I hope Trump does let Assange go about his life without threat of extradition to the US.

 

Snowden is an American citizen, so on the face of, he has engaged in illegal behaviour. I doubt it is treason as outlined in your law. He is certainly answerable for his actions.

Assange however, is an Australian citizen who spread information illegally obtained by others. He did not steal it himself. There have been cases where the US has extradited foreign citizens for hacking American databases in the US. Fair enough, it's exactly the same as robbing an American bank, albeit remotely. It does not appear Assange did anything in America. It is therefore hard to see how he can be extradited there. And exactly what the offence would be. That does excuse the fact he is an arsehole who in all likelihood was responsible for compromising US intelligence assets. And that usually means a messy end for them. Were I him, I would not plan on visiting the home of the brave and the land of the free.