[Author’s note: The following post is the second part in a
three part series on Julian Assange.]
Assange had sex with two women in Sweden in August 2010.
Assange traveled from
Sweden to the UK on September 27, 2010.
Swedish police issued
an international arrest warrant on November 20, 2010 seeking Assange’s
extradition to Sweden to provide testimony in regards to allegations of sexual
misconduct involving the two women.
He turned himself in to London police on
December 8, 2012. On December 16 Assange was granted bail on the conditions that
he reside at the house of a British friend and that he wear an electronic
tracking devise.
Assange’s extradition hearing began
on February 7, 2011. His lawyers argued
that once Assange was extradited to Sweden he would then face extradition from
Sweden to the US on charges relating to Wikileaks’ release of classified US
documents. Assange’s extradition to Sweden was upheld by the court
on February 24, 2011.
Assange appealed the decision to the High Court in London.
That hearing
took place in July and the Judges’ decision was delivered
on November 2. The court ruled in favor of his extradition to Sweden.
Julian Assange appealed to the Supreme Court of the United
Kingdom. The case was debated
in February 2012. The court ruled against Assange on May 30, 2012.
During his extradition battle, Assange offered to be
interrogated in Britain
or over the phone,
both of which are allowed
by Swedish law. The Swedish prosecutor declined
the offer.
From April 17 through July 3, the news channel RT aired 12 episodes of
“The World Tomorrow” a political interview show hosted by Julian Assange. RT is
funded
by the Russian government. Assange interviewed Rafael
Correa, the President of Ecuador, for one of the episodes. During that
interview Correa told
Assange, “Welcome to the Club of the Persecuted!”
On June 19, 2012 Julian Assange went
to the Ecuadorian embassy in London to seek political asylum. He has been
living there ever since. Julian Assange was granted
political asylum by Ecuador on August 16, 2012. Ecuador granted the asylum
because it fears Assange could be extradited from Sweden to the US.
Assange spent 1 year and 7 months under house arrest and has
spent 5 and a half months living out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Assange has repeatedly
said that he would go to Sweden if he was given a guarantee that he would not
be subsequently extradited to the US. The Swedish government has replied
that its country’s legislation won’t allow any judicial decision like
extradition to be decided in advance. Ecuador has offered
Swedish prosecutors the ability to question Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy
in London. Sweden declined
the offer. British police will arrest
Assange should he step outside of the Ecuadorian embassy.
Article 22 part 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations states,
1. The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The
agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of
the head of the mission.
Britain is a signatory to the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations. This means that Britain cannot enter the embassy without
the consent of Ecuador. In August, Britain threatened to storm
the embassy based on the UK Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act of 1987. That
threat would not have only been questionable under the Vienna Convention, as
Ecuador noted, but would have also overturned centuries of established norms in
international relations. Britain later withdrew
its threat.
Soon after being granted asylum by Ecuador, Assange gave a speech from the balcony
of the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange declared, “The US administration’s war on
whistleblowers must end.” He also said, “Bradley Manning must be released.”
Assange concluded his speech by saying,
“On Wednesday Bradley Manning spent his 815th day
of detention without trial. The legal maximum is 120 days. On Thursday my
friend Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Human Rights Center, was
sentenced to three years in prison for a tweet. On Friday a Russian band was
sentenced to two years for a political performance. There is unity in the
oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination in the response.”
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