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Assange Case: A Colossal Travesty of JusticeBy Björn Karlin. Published 17 January 2012.
It's not only Swedish journalists who are suffering from lumbago: a pandemic seems to have broken out.
The majority of the world's normally critical and observant social journalists, with very few exceptions, seem to irresolutely hunker down and/or focus their attention with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks on a broken condom when they're actually witnessing a colossal travesty of justice taking place right before their eyes and inside their own borders.
A colleague of ours, the archetype of what every journalist should be, is being ground to bits by the very forces he and we are supposed to be scrutinising. Has some sort of global Jante Law suddenly descended on the journalist collective, or what is this all about - for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks?
Yes I've decided to support WikiLeaks, but I respect the fact that not everyone shares my opinion, or that some people are completely neutral, for that's the way it has to be. But please drop the broken condom angle the next time Julian Assange and WikiLeaks surface. And try to lift your eyes to the 'forest' instead.
For I hope there is no one with the possible exception of Jan Guillou who's not figured out that the main reason Julian Assange refuses to come back to Sweden is our generous temporary surrender agreement with the US. This is what Julian Assange's solicitor wrote about the risk of extradition to Sweden:
'It's not the Swedish judicial system that poses a serious threat for Assange, but instead a legal trick called temporary surrender whereby he can be forwarded from Sweden to the US without trial, swiftly and in secrecy.'
Considering the arbitrary methods used by judicial authorities in the US in the case of Bradley Manning, it'd be more startling if Julian Assange did not fight tooth and claw against extradition to Sweden.
I try as best I can and as objectively as possible to follow what's written about Julian Assange/WikiLeaks and other harassed journalists on my Facebook page 'Don't Shoot the Messenger' - it's mostly in English as the articles and visitors are mostly in English. Pop in and leave a comment if you like.
I'm so sick of it all. Will it never end? At any rate I want to say the other girl's just as much to blame.
- Anna Ardin
Apparently Swedish laws are unique. If you have a penis you're half a rapist before you even get through customs.
- Scott Adams
If I am able to reveal what I know, everyone will realise this is all a charade. If I could tell the British courts, I suspect it would make extradition a moot point.
- Björn Hurtig
I can tell you that the Swedish prosecution still hasn't provided copies of those SMS texts that have been referred to. Those texts are some of the most powerful exculpatory evidence. In Australia prosecutors have a very grave duty to disclose such evidence to courts when seeking the grave exercise of a court's power against an individual. Yet in Sweden in this case, in the first hearings to obtain an arrest warrant, those texts were not submitted to the Swedish court, which is highly improper.
- James Catlin
The prosecutor could achieve this broadening of the law during Assange's trial so he can be convicted of a crime that didn't exist at the time he allegedly committed it. She would need to. There is no precedent for this. The Swedes are making it up as they go along.
- James Catlin
Julian Assange will surely learn that considering what WikiLeaks has published, he's got a few enemies in the Pentagon, the CIA, and the White House. Sweden began an investigation into rape which was later dismissed. Assange was even denied residence in Sweden. One can only speculate to what extent the security agencies of the US were involved. And considering the obvious interest of the US to silence WikiLeaks, is it likely Assange will have an accident of the 'Boston brakes' kind in the coming years? Or will he be snared with compromising information of the 'honey trap' kind?
- 'Drozd' at Flashback 23 October 2010
The truth will out, the truth wins out. Let no journalist ever again speculate into what the protocols say. Six months of digging and the people at Flashback have the actual documents. The sleaze printed by rags such as the Daily Mail, Sweden's Aftonbladet and Expressen, and perhaps above all the toxic Nick Davies of the Guardian, can stand no more. Yet more: these documents are an indictment of the 'news organisations' who've printed deliberate inaccuracies all along or even worse: refused to print anything at all. Nick Davies' account of the protocols was maliciously skewed; both Aftonbladet and Expressen had copies early on and printed nothing. Bloggers had copies but arrogantly kept the information to their Smeagol selves.
- The Assange Police Protocol: Translator's Note
See Also
Journalistien: Assangefallet - ett gigantiskt justitiemord
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