WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was finally released this afternoon on 240,000 pounds bail, after Judge Ouseley, the second judge to hear a bail request for him in 48 hours, agreed that the whistleblower was to be released.
Assange had been held since last week on an attempted extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning. The conditions of bail require him to live at an East Anglia residence and submit to curfew, electronic monitoring, and report in daily to the police.
Sweden had provided no real evidence again his being bailed or in favor of his extradition, and Judge Riddle, the judge at the first hearing, expressed annoyance at Swedish prosecutors’ claims that evidence was “irrelevant” to the case. He had ordered Assange bailed on Tuesday, only to see his ruling face an appeal, apparently by a British prosecutor.
Assange is finally a free man, or at least as close to it as one can be while on monitoring and multiple curfews, and is reportedly thrilled to be out of the infamous Wandsworth Prison. He reports that he intends to continue his work with WikiLeaks as he fights against his extradition to Sweden, who is reportedly already in talks to send him to the United States where he faces execution for releasing embarrassing secrets.
How can he face execution for only releasing embarrasing secrets? I deeply hope this is toxic info otherwise the US will have to answer for its undemocratic and authoritarian practices to the rest of the world as it will totally change the way people view this country and its government. I hope Obama's administration is not a clone of Bush's although a lot of it remains the same with its ongoing wars that is depleting the US economy, the increasing number of innocent victims, the desperation of the local people, (who ever is military advisor is, should step down!!!) Obama is an intellectual not just a mere cowboy (money and power hungry), he understands ethics and the human implication, foundations of any civilisation worthy of that name.
You seem to have such a high opinion of Mr. Obama. In fact, he may be a very ethical person, but that is irrelevant because in order to be elected, he had to sell his soul to the devil. Even if he wants to do the correct thing, do you think his handlres are going to allow him? And the powerful people in the US are powerfully evil because their tentacles reach the whole globe. When they send armies anywhere in the world and assassinate millions in the process, what importance could have the decency (or lack of it) or the life of a single person, even if this person is the president of the US. He is another tool, a useful fool. That's all. Sorry, it's not personal.
Yes!!!!
This is great news. For now. There's still another month to go before the next hearing. A lot can happen in the meantime.
Still, nobody has answered the question of "why is this man wanted for extradition to Sweden if all the prosecutors want is to speak to him" – I guess I ain't smart enough and I'm missing something here that the judges and his lawyers know.
This is great news but is this perhaps just US instigated noise to deflect attention from the actual LEAKS???
Lots of news about Assange, BUT THERE SHOULD BE A SECTION DEDICATED TO JUICY LEAKS!!
They want him in Sweden so the British don't get their hands dirty handing him over to the US. You can bet wherever he goes, the US will be leveraging incredible power and/or amounts of cash to have him placed in their custody for any reason legal or illegal. I guarantee you, if he showed up in Upper Volta, that tiny nation would immediately become our bestest buddy in the whole world and would be showered with foreign aid money and shiny military hardware.
It's almost comical to watch the USG jump through verbal and legal hoops to try and figure out how to get their hands on Assange- and sadly, it's much like watching a crack addict beg for just one more hit. The powerful can't stand when their supply of hubris is destroyed.