INTERPOL Seeks Wikileaks founder on Rape Charges

[Solauren]

INTERPOL issues global arrest request for WikiLeaks' Assange

LYON (AFP) - The global police agency INTERPOL said Wednesday it had alerted member states to arrest WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange on suspicion of rape on the basis of a Swedish arrest warrant.

"There is a public 'Red Notice' on behalf of Sweden," a spokeswoman told AFP, confirming that INTERPOL had posted Sweden's request for assistance in tracking down the 39-year-old Australian on its website.

Sweden's International Public Prosecution Office in Gothenburg issued an arrest warrant for the secretive activist on November 18, citing "probable cause of suspected rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion."

Assange, whose current location is unclear, contested the warrant in a Swedish appeals court, but his first bid to get it thrown out was rejected last week and he has lodged a second appeal.

In the meantime, he could face arrest and extradition to Sweden from anywhere in the world where local authorities decide to act on the warrant.

Some of Assange's supporters have accused unnamed forces of framing him for the alleged sexual assaults on two Swedish women in Sweden in August, in order to undermine his campaign to publicise secret documents.

The elusive activist's lawyers have not taken this tack, however, arguing instead that the prosecutor should not need to arrest him simply to question him, as he had proposed several dates and times for questioning.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks' crusade has continued, with this week's dump of the first of around a quarter of a million secret US State Department cables online and a barrage of leaks in world newspapers.

The release of the documents, mainly internal US diplomatic telegrammes, has proved highly embarrassing for the United States and some of its allies, with surprise revelations and indiscreet asides about world events.

Assange gave an interview to Time magazine on Tuesday from an undisclosed location through the Skype Internet phone service. Although Australian, he is thought to live mainly in Europe, and has been seen recently in Britain.

Many countries around the world, including the United States, have denounced the theft and exposure of the cables as a criminal act that undermines global stability and diplomatic practice.

US prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the leaks but one country -- leftist Ecuador -- briefly appeared to offer Assange asylum, before withdrawing the offer a day after is was made.

Well, he's got even more problems now.

And I petty any country that offers him asylum. That's an open invite for alot of pissed of countries to 'extract' Assange without permission, and probably some colateral damage.

[Chaotic Neutral]

This isn't surprising. The only strange thing is that he hasn't been arrested earlier.

[Stark]

In what sense is Interpol being after someone an invitation for 'collateral damage'?

[Phantasee]

I imagine there will be plenty of collateral damage in the movie based on the book based on the events that are soon to happen.

I thought the original Swedish warrant was retracted? Or the alleged victim dropped the charges or something.

P.S. It's spelled 'pity', not 'petty'.

[Stofsk]

I seem to recall the charges were reinstated. I can't remember where the thread was, but it was in this forum somewhere.

[Mr Bean]

The charges were brought, dropped, re-instated by higher prosecutor, dropped again by the next level then re-instated by the highest court and they have been in effect. As covered it's not warrant for his arrest for rape but just to bring him in for questioning. Assange is needless to say highly hesitant to turn himself over with major US politico's calling for his death and under the belief if he does surrender himself to questioning he will be arrested and extradited to America and being a non-US citizen can look forward to all sorts of the fun in the US foreign detention system.

Which is why he refused to return to Sweden to be questioned in person and instead offered up the meeting places to make sure he would not get snatched by the Swedish authorities under US pressure. Now the game has been stepped up and they are out to arrest him. The real question is who's going to arrest him and if he stays in Sweden or the US poaches him if he is arrested.

Because if he ends up in the US custody after being arrested for rape in Sweden he's going to become instant symbol and possible martyr.

[Drone]

As covered it's not warrant for his arrest for rape but just to bring him in for questioning. Assange is needless to say highly hesitant to turn himself over with major US politico's calling for his death and under the belief if he does surrender himself to questioning he will be arrested and extradited to America and being a non-US citizen can look forward to all sorts of the fun in the US foreign detention system.

Uh who exactly that's in a position of power in the US has called for his death?

[Mr Bean]

Uh who exactly that's in a position of power in the US has called for his death?

Newt and Huckabee have said so in as many words, both for the leaker and Assange. I'll clarify my comments in saying Obama has said nothing of the sort but I'll turn that over to Thanas about how much we can trust Obama when it comes to Non-US citizens in US custody. I don't expect Mr Assange to be taken by the US and end up with a bullet in his head but I'd bet you twenty bucks he could vanish for two years then be released and the US media not give a damn.

[weemadando]

Let's not forget that H. Clinton has been dialling up the rhetoric in past days. And also that being a foreign national, no one actually needs to explicitly order his detention/death. The previous regime made pretty much certain that anyone with a black pillowcase and a charter jet could just do that on a whim.

[K. A. Pital]

Assange needs to avoid travelling by plane if he wishes to stay out of U.S. hands, which is fairly easy to do in Europe. That was the first thing me and my wife thought when we heard about it. Because the US often snatches people flying, but on the ground it is much, much harder to even track him accurately.

[Tanasinn]

It seems quite clear that this charge exists (and has from the beginning) to bring in and disappear Assange for upsetting political order in the United States. What baffles me is why they're even bothering with such a pathetic fig leaf.

[Shroom Man 777]

Let's not forget that H. Clinton has been dialling up the rhetoric in past days. And also that being a foreign national, no one actually needs to explicitly order his detention/death. The previous regime made pretty much certain that anyone with a black pillowcase and a charter jet could just do that on a whim.

Is it because they have goons watching the airports?

[weemadando]

It seems quite clear that this charge exists (and has from the beginning) to bring in and disappear Assange for upsetting political order in the United States. What baffles me is why they're even bothering with such a pathetic fig leaf.

Because many people are still too dumb to read between the lines. And that's how you end up in this kind of scenario.

[Spoonist]

It seems quite clear that this charge exists (and has from the beginning) to bring in and disappear Assange for upsetting political order in the United States. What baffles me is why they're even bothering with such a pathetic fig leaf.

Because many people are still too dumb to read between the lines. And that's how you end up in this kind of scenario.

Huh?
Not really. The circumstances around the charges are confirmed by Assange, although details differ. The women are anti-imperialists and have fully supported stuff like wikileaks for years. So if their creation is that of agents then they have sleeper agents for 20+ years in frigging swedish left wing circles. Hardly a high interest place given global spying circles.

So while you can claim that the charges are tougher than need be and are used for political reasons. But to say they "exist" solely for political reasons seems somewhat ridicilous. Unless if its to claim that the charges should have been dropped for a lack of evidence.

[loomer]

I believe they were dropped for lack of evidence. Repeatedly.

[weemadando]

It seems quite clear that this charge exists (and has from the beginning) to bring in and disappear Assange for upsetting political order in the United States.

Because many people are still too dumb to read between the lines. And that's how you end up in this kind of scenario.

Huh?
Not really. The circumstances around the charges are confirmed by Assange, although details differ. The women are anti-imperialists and have fully supported stuff like wikileaks for years. So if their creation is that of agents then they have sleeper agents for 20+ years in frigging swedish left wing circles. Hardly a high interest place given global spying circles.

So while you can claim that the charges are tougher than need be and are used for political reasons. But to say they "exist" solely for political reasons seems somewhat ridicilous. Unless if its to claim that the charges should have been dropped for a lack of evidence.

"What baffles me is why they're even bothering with such a pathetic fig leaf."

That's what I was addressing. There may be something to the charges. Who fucking knows. But in all likelihood the moment he pops his head up someone is going to throw a black bag over it and chuck him on the next flight to shithole-i-stan where the US can not torture him for info, but instead watch the locals do it and give them some pointers along the way and cash once their done, then fly him to somewhere else and let him live out the rest of his life in resort camp luxury complete with daily facial baths.

An extreme scenario? Yes. An unbelievable one? Most definitely not.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

So, simply because the guy is the pompous blowhard Jimbo Wales of Wikileaks, a collaborative site which thousands of people with real jobs other than playing secret agent man as a convicted criminal and l00t hacker also contribute to, and possibly contribute more than a grease-slicked wad of hair to, we need to ignore these rape charges? These women are just the lying whores of the running dog American Imperialists simply because they dared report what happened at the hands of a powerful and arrogant man? Since when was the Swedish government a supporter of American adventurism? Since when were these women, who spent 20 years opposing American Imperialism, the running-dog lackeys of Wahsington D.C.?

The charges were dropped once, and then reinstated upon further investigation. Stop applying the criminal procedure of your home nations to Sweden, for chrissakes; this sort of thing happens all the time there, because what a charge is and how it's processed is different in Sweden. Hell, the articles themselves say Sweden has arrested Assange, because in Sweden they arrest you in absentia if you're not there for the hearing and then give authorization for detention, rather than a warrant for arrest as the commonwealth countries and US do. The Swedish courts are not the creatures of the United States, and they chose to reintroduce the charges. But of course the man must be defended and the evidence they chose to act upon ignored, simply because he's standing up to America. It is of course attitudes like that which contribute to the oppression of women, but let's just completely forget about that, hmmm?

Or maybe you could get an astonishing concept through your head:

The United States is not above the law, and neither is Assange.

[loomer]

Somehow I doubt that anyone here is opposed to Assange being tried for the rapes, Marina. I think the real issue the probability of him being kidnapped by the Americans instead of facing justice (if, in fact, he is guilty). If he raped them? Well then, they can hang him out to dry in the Swedish courts... so long as it remains in the Swedish courts and he doesn't somehow end up in the middle of Libya with clamps attached to his testicles.

[Shroom Man 777]

If Assange did it, then he should get his ass busted. He's not indispensable to the Wikileaks effort.

[Xon]

The United States is not above the law

It is deeply hilarious that you even claim this as a vaguely serious statement.

Did you miss that 90% of this thread is basicly revolving around that if the Americans get thier hands on Assange his life is effectively over regardless on the allegations in Sweden? Assange has had members of the USA government liken him to Osama bin Laden and called for him to be dealt with.

Assange effectively has death threats from people in the US government who are in the position to make it policy, no kidding Assange isn't exactly leaping hop on a plane and take an international flight.

[cosmicalstorm]

If he ends up in the hands of Swedens authorities and they decide to extradite him to America there would be a serious public outrage here. He has a lot of supporters in the Swedish media, and the whole leak thing dosen't seem to have caused Sweden a lot of pain.
As for the actual rape charges I think he is guilty, but it's not rape in the sense that a lot of people think of it, he probably did something inappropriate (remove his condom, cum inside them or something similar) during the intercourse.

This is a sensitive issue in Sweden, a lot of womens rights groups are campaigning for laws that would make it possible for a woman to agree to intecourse and then decide that she was raped afterwards, essentially meaning that a man would need to sign a sex contract with a woman in advance to be completely sure that he can not be charged with rape.
(One man was actually freed of charges recently precisely because he could produce such a contract.)

[Rogue 9]

Bah. That the United States would try to use Swedish rape charges as a pretext to arrest/extradite Assange is ludicrous; he's already talked himself straight into charges under the Espionage Act without any sort of need for pretext whatsoever if the U.S. manages to gain custody of him to bring them.

[Dooey Jo]

The Swedish courts are not the creatures of the United States

That's debatable. I find it unlikely that for instance the Pirate Bay trial would have turned out as it did had it been some local copyright holder wanting to sue, rather than huge American corporations backed by their government.

[Drone]

The United States is not above the law

It is deeply hilarious that you even claim this as a vaguely serious statement.

Did you miss that 90% of this thread is basicly revolving around that if the Americans get thier hands on Assange his life is effectively over regardless on the allegations in Sweden? Assange has had members of the USA government liken him to Osama bin Laden and called for him to be dealt with.

Assange effectively has death threats from people in the US government who are in the position to make it policy, no kidding Assange isn't exactly leaping hop on a plane and take an international flight.

You mean the paranoid rantings in this thread should be taken at their word? Gingrich and Huckabee aren't in position to make US policy, and likely never will be again, so I repeat my earlier question, who in a position of power has threatened this guy's life? For someone to say he should be "dealt with" doesn't equal murdered, or tortured, or anything of the sort necessarily. It can just mean imprisoned, OR it can mean that they simply want to find a way to prevent him from being able to leak anything else.

[someone_else]

a lot of womens rights groups are campaigning for laws that would make it possible for a woman to agree to intecourse and then decide that she was raped afterwards, essentially meaning that a man would need to sign a sex contract with a woman in advance to be completely sure that he can not be charged with rape.

Is that only me or this is really over the top? Sex Contracts tend to be soo un-romantic.


This has good chances to become a huge clusterfuck for USA's international image.
If they manage to get their hands on Assange by manipulating Swedish justice, and then the papers of that and photos of assange in fuck-you-istan are posted on wikileaks...
[sarcasm]What a hilarious day that would be. [/sarcasm]

But persoanlly I think this guy won't get caught so easily.
I expect 2+ years of fun tracking him down, and Wikileaks will probably remain operational even after that.