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Lawyer: Assange is Being Persecuted in Sweden
LONDON -- The lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says that the decision to add the 39-year-old Australian to Interpol's most wanted list shows that his client is being persecuted.
Media lawyer Mark Stephens says Assange and his attorneys have not been provided with any information beyond what has been reported in the press about the sexual misconduct case against him in Sweden.
He says Assange has repeatedly sought meetings with Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny. Stephens said Wednesday that it was bizarre that Ny sought an arrest warrant after having ignored or rejected Assange's offers of voluntary cooperation.
Stephens said that this appears to be "a persecution and not a prosecution."
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Show AllSeems a bit like "kill the messenger".
it is worth taking a peek at the Wikipedia profile on Sweden's prime minister Olaf Palma - who was assassinated in 1988. Hugely popular and loved by the left and despised by the right...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme
If he's wanted by Interpol for espioage they can just bring Hillary Clinton up on charges for spying on the UN.
As I recall, these charges were initially made and then dropped only to be reinstated later. That sequence alone indicates that political pressure is behind the prosecutor's actions.
q
http://www.interpol.int/
that's what i remember too...........
have a look at the official interpol website.............'sexual misconduct' doesn't feature very largely in their quest for capturing dangerous criminals.
Nope, I found it and they couldn't be bothered to put up a picture. He's wanted for "SEX CRIMES" apparently.
The whole thing smells...
Let's see now .... Assange is releasing documents which show the world the truth behind these wars we are prosecuting. If these documents work, these wars will be reduced, causing a reduction in the purchase and use of military armaments. Sweden is the second largest producer and purveyor of military armaments in the world. Golly, why would pacifist Sweden persecute Julian Assange? Let's see, now ......
It is blatantly obvious that the Obama Administration is behind this persecution. The ruling elites of the world are upset that the people should hear any truth about their power. Interpol should be putting the real criminals like Blair, Bush, Harper and Obama on their most-wanted list. This will never happen until we have real democracy. We need to fight for democracy and that means doing away with capitalism.
The true character of Swedish society is revealed in the framing of Julian Assange on "rape" and then "sexual molestation" charges based on almost laughable circumstances, resulting in INTERPOL placing him on their most wanted list. This obvious pandering to brute politics reveals the true character of Swedish society. Far from being the progressive light of the world it pretends to be, it is an authoritarian nanny-state that owes its late twentieth-century affluence to having been a de facto ally of Nazi Germany, supplying it with vital exports of steel and other war materiel right up to the end of the war and, as a supposed "neutral", not having its industrial base bombed for that perfidy.
Tony Vodvarka
Still, like other people, Swedes come in all shapes and sizes and can't all be held responsible for what their government, or people in their government, do.
(I admit what I know of Sweden comes entirely from Bella Donna Trackers, a flat-track motorcycle racing blog.)
http://belladonna-trackers.blogspot.com/
Not the Sweden of travel posters and not work-safe most days.
"Almost laughable" is right, Tony, and thanks for the revealing history. What a topsy-turvy, mixed-up, jumbled-up, outside-in world.
In it's bizarre regressiveness, this reflects especially poorly on Sweden. Either they've miscalculated---Interpol is so obviously over the top for an otherwise trivial he-said/she-said sex scandal---or this was designed to promote Assange's image. IMO, it is bit too blatantly political and thus a clear boost for Assange. Something smells of past-due red herring in Sweden.
Do you have a link or citation on the circumstances of the charges? I don't know much about it, and most of the reporting doesn't get into specifics.
Provided by "Get off the grid" here at 3:47
http://tinyurl.com/2b4v8m8
Charges were filed, then withdrawn, then re-filed---in a rather murky he-said/she-said affair. It be a legitimate complaint, but sheesh, getting Interpol involved is just too bizarre and discredits the case entirely.
This is almost too stupid for the CIA, but who knows; the agency is full of bone-headed Colonel Flagg types with exploding cigar schemes and such. Consider George "slam dunk" Tenet, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom for falling on his sword over non-existent Iraqi WMDs, or William Casey utterly clueless about the impending implosion of the USSR, even while it unfolded. It's a confederacy of dunces, like most of today's diplomatic corps and the imperial court.
Keep in mind, Abvodvarka, that Sweden is one of the most pro-feminist countries in the world where men are considered "guilty till proven innocent" when it comes to rape or crimes against women. So when Julian Assange was living and working in Sweden, he should have known to take extra precautions with regards to which women he chose to sleep with. And since militant feminists tend to be hawkish in their views on war, Mr.Assange should have known better than to sleep with a militant feminist. He should have known that a militant feminist has the motive and the mindset to become a sellout to the bloodthirsty warmongers at the Pentagon. These monsters want Julian Assange’s head on a platter and he was should have known that a militant feminist living in Sweden would help do this for them!
Also be mindful that Sweden leads the world when it comes to protecting the privacy of online users as well as safeguarding whistle-blowers from prosecution, so Julian Assange’s thinking cap was working when he chose to have WikiLeaks’ primary server located in Sweden. But apparently his thinking cap soon failed him, otherwise he would have known that Expressen (see link below), one of the most widely read tabloids in Sweden, is owned and operated by the Bonnier family, who is notorious for being a loyal lap dog for the American Empire when it comes to protecting all the criminal activities on Wall Street and at the Pentagon. Not to sound conspiratorial, but I wouldn’t put it past the Bonnier family to team up with the Pentagon in order to discredit Julian Assange and his efforts to expose to the world that the US has become a safe haven for some of the world’s worst war criminals.
http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir08272010.html
Dear Cynthia, I agree with most of what you have to say, except that the charges against Assange are ludicrous to most people outside of the rarified atmosphere of quasi-matriarchal calvinist Sweden and I wouldn't put the onus on him for not knowing he would be ambushed. As they were originally considering giving him residency to protect his mission, the turn-around, under political pressure, to framing him for rape in the most spurious of circumstances and then persuing these fantastic charges with an international man hunt highlights the gross hypocracy of a nation that has always known where its bread is buttered.
Moral Relativism as it relates to WikiLeaks:
http://macleodcartoons.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-provokes-storm.html
_________________
Sweden has always been Lutheran.
Lutheranism is state-based Calvinism.
May I add to my comment above which criticizes Sweden as a virtual ally of Nazi Germany, that they allowed German troops to cross Sweden unimpeded so that they could attack the Soviet Union from the north. Moreover, many young Swedish men joined the SS Nordland Division, which drew men of fascist inclination from all Scandanavian nations. They had no resistence movement, as did Norway and Denmark. On the other hand, to their eternal credit, they were a refuge for Danish Jews fleeing occupied Denmark.
Tony Vodvarka
Well said. As a close student of the hypocricy that pretends to be an enlightened state I can only agree with you that there is something very, very rotten in Sweden.
Laughably, as many global citizens in England, Greece, France, Ireland, Germany, to name a few areas, are ready for confrontation with the known enemy of human brotherhood, the sheeple that the Swedes truly are merely gawk and stare as "their" representative sells the national economic base, ie the resources and major industries, to the highest bidder, at any cost to the citizen or society at large.
Stay glued to their "Idol" while they themselves are forced to pay for the criminal activities of their financial and insurance scammers who get off scot free and even get millionaire bonuses for their outstanding efforts at destroying a society gone sour...
Disgustingly, while pretending to be oh, so dedicated to peace and dialogue, the swedish regime gladly supplies the rogue regime that controls the US populace temporarily all the weapons and armaments it needs, in direct opposition to their own national laws. Protest? Yeah sure, about "too many refugee immigrants"...
How many innocent Iraqi children´s lives does it cost to screw in one swedish lightbulb? As many as it takes to keep the criminally selfish gorge of slackjawed, apenecked, clueless swedish consumers going.
This has become a sleazy little backwoods slut, catering to the every whim of it´s master, the corporate oligarch of global proportions and universally malicious intent upon those things that make us human instead of mere hairless ... apes.
This is so very unfortunate. On the one hand, the US government is p&ss*d off by the leaks. On the other, this man is incredibly brave, putting himself in harm's way to defend freedom of speech that has the potential to cancel unnecessary wars that would certainly cause scores of innocent victims.
I don't understand how making corruption and chicanery public could possibly be a bigger "crime" than the actual corruption and chicanery.
I wish him well. I hope and trust that many competent lawyers will volunteer to stand up for him "for free".
Violence is bullshyte.
How about: Bush & Co. and Obama!
Indeed, considering who should be on Interpol's most-wanted list of international criminals---Bush, Cheney, et al,---lauching a gobal manhunt for sexual misconduct is simply too Orwellian. Sweden must have some kind of magic mushrooms.
in good time.
I have said again and again for almost a year that Assange will be blacklisted, captured, prosecuted, and put in prison. Not killed, as that would make him a martyr and the U.S. has to be careful about using such tactics on such a widely-known celebrity. The moment he tried to take on the Fascist States of America he signed his own arrest warrant. He is cooked. Finished. Done. You can NOT go up against the U.S. and expect to come out a free man. The U.S. has no morals, no ethics, abides by no laws or treaties, and cares about one thing and one thing only: the continuation of their global hegemony and conquest of the world for their corporate interests, all the while putting up a facade of goodness and freedom and good-guy-ness to smother the truth of its evil. Assange tried to pull back the curtain - and God bless him for his efforts. But once he is arrested - which will be within a few weeks - he will never see the light of day again.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
"Assange tried to pull back the curtain..." Oh , he did more than try; he ripped it down. Behind Obama's statuesque bronze mask is a pathetic decrepit geezer the whole world now sees, and that cat simply can't be put back into the bag.
What I suspect this is really about is the upcoming release of internal emails of a major US bank (Bank of America?) with likely evidence of rampant fraud, and the banksters are launching a preemptive attack to prevent it or control its scope or damage. If killing him would do that (without matyrdom) he would undoubtedly be dead already. I sincerely hope Assange has the courage to see this through, but if the banksters escape unscathed, the memos prove inconclusive or irrelevant, and the charges fall, then we'll know they were successful.
Wikileaks going after the Goldmans of the World (see link below) pretty much shoots down the theory held by some antiwar activists that Julian Assange is a Mossad agent, who has sold out to the Zionist Power Structure. I might believe this theory if he were to move into a multimillion dollar mansion in the Hamptons and spend his weekends playing golf with Lloyd Blankfein and other sleazy vampire squids. But until this happens, I'll continue to believe that Julain Assange is more of a foe than a friend to the Zionist state of Israel!
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/
And I have no doubt that Julian Assange knows that he'd be a dead man by now if he were to tread too heavily on Israel. Self preservation, in my view, is what's keep him from exposing too much bloody dirt on Israel.
Not to sound like I'm hell bent on revenge, but any man who enjoys crushing bastards, as Julian Assange does, is a man after my own heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxmUrtw53nE
Ben Laden, the 9/11 mastermind or so were told, he has less friends by far then our hero and he is still free as a bird, much freer them you and I actually.
Dead on. The arm of the Godfather is long. I hope Wikileaks has the people and resources in place to continue their good work.
Demonstorm: " Assange will be blacklisted, captured, prosecuted and put in prison ". It kind of reminds me of before the illegal, Iraq war when the whore press demonized Saddam H. and said he arrested or murdered any messenger that brought him bad news he did not like!
somebody will leak dirty secrets of Marianne Ny soon.
prosecution is always persecution,
as it always involves picking a particular target, under a particular provision, at a particular time, for particular reasons, by particular persecutors.
the good news is, Mr. Assange and his friends are smarter than all the real criminals put together.
The challenge to Assange is that Obama and those that are in power make their own rules. It isn't a level playing field.
I posted this the other day, but several sources i've found say that this thing is so pathetic that it is about Assange not wishing to wear a condom.
Honest. I couldn't have made that one up!
this article, posted below on this thread
http://tinyurl.com/2b4v8m8
quotes the swedish police report
--------------
According to a police source: ‘They had a discussion and decided it would be OK to share the living space, then went out together for dinner.
'When they got back they had sexual relations, but there was a problem with the condom - it had split.
'She seemed to think that he had done this deliberately but he insisted that it was an accident.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1307137/Supporters-dismissed-rape-accusations-WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange--women-involved-tell-different-story.html#ixzz16tWWafQd
-------------------------------------------
it even seems more trivial in this light. this happens as often as people cross the street.
This is a transparent hatchet job, and the Swedish prosecutors are dissembling. There's no way that the sex charge has anything to do with Assange being put on the Interpol list.
Incidentally, can he be put on the list solely at the discretion of a single country's prosecutor? I wonder about the process involved here.
If anyone has any knowledge of how Interpol creates its most-wanted list, I would be interested to hear about it.
Interpol is a corrupt organization. They will put you on the red list at the behest of any government, and there is no due process for getting off that list. Russia has red listed many of its whistleblowers, who are now unable to travel. There are people stuck in places like the UK and elsewhere who simply cannot leave, because while they may have proven their innocence in their host countries, they are still on Interpol's red list.
I believe I've read somewhere that Ecuador has given Assange safe haven.
Assange is a very smart and very courageous man. I hope he stays one step ahead of the bastards!
If everyone accused of rape was on the Interpol's most wanted list, would it not exceed a million? And would not Interpol have to increase its budget 1,000%, increase its manpower by 10,000, and take 20 years to catch up to such a work load?
Be logical Interpol, when have you ever had more then 50 people on your most wanted list?
Indeed, they would have to add all the US soldiers who have been raping their fellow female soldiers and Afghan and Iraqi civilian girls and women. This is not about concern for women by any stretch of the imagination.
Who would have imagined that Sweden, of all places, would use Interpol to help the US and other nations keep secrets about illegal activities? For example, under the UN Charter, it is illegal for a nation to threaten to attack another nation. Saudi Arabia is a member of the UN, and thus the King of Saudi Arabia appears to have committed a crime. Why has Sweden not put his name to Interpol? And Hillary Clinton has conspired to steal credit card numbers from foreign diplomats. That is also a crime. Why has Sweden not put her name to Interpol? Maybe it is time to boycott IKEA and H&M, Volvo & Saab, to boycott Sony-Eriksson.
just about all western countries are sucked into this global financial scheme, and it's too late for them to resist the financial terrorists, who have proven time and again that they can destroy a country just like that.
like people in the know say,
touch as much as a hair, and
watch the 1.3GB "insurance" file coming out to bring down the real criminals.
i hope the criminals will dare him. soon.
If you would like to contact the Swedish government to protest their persecution of Julian Assange, here are some email, phone, and fax connections. Please circulate:
Embassy of Sweden Washington
Phone: 202-467 2600
Fax: 202-467 2699
Email: ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se
Embassy of Sweden Ottawa
Phone: 613-244 8200
Fax: 613-241 2277
Email: sweden.ottawa@foreign.ministry.se
Embassy of Sweden London
Phone: 20-7917 6400
Fax: 20-7724 4174
Email: ambassaden.london@foreign.ministry.se
Thanks.. a most helpful post
For another take on Sweden's secret agencies and their undue influence, google and read about Stieg Larsson, author of the "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy"
Pay attention to the expose found on his computer after his death 'under suspicious circumstances'. His credentials include running a TruthDig-like journal exposing corruption and - yes- undue influence.
The history of the charges and the escalation over time certainly sound as if taken from his writings.
These charges against Mr. Assange are pathetic. It was obviously consensual sex. It all has something to do with a condom that tore, and/or having unprotected sex. His mistake was having sex with two women in a few days, and then the two women met and compared notes. He may be a womanizer, but this certainly doesn't sound like rape. Read info from the women's police report:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1307137/Supporters-dismissed-rape-accusations-WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange--women-involved-tell-different-story.html
(I don't know why this entire link won't post properly. Here's the rest:
accusations-WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange--women-involved-tell-different-story.html
What kind of world is this we live in? This man releases documents showing over 100,000 innocent people were killed, and nothing is happening to those responsible. He releases documents confirming torture, blackmail, and spying, and those people involved are walking free, with no charges pending and very little public outcry.
Here is the link using tinyurl:
http://tinyurl.com/2b4v8m8
It's important that torturers and war criminals go free and equally important that those who report such official crimes be punished. It's the American way.