Jullian Assange has been arrested following removal of asylum by the Ecuadorian Government

Color me a skeptic that this is all about extradition to the US. I just don't see what US law he might have broken.

 

The risk is prosecutors might charge him under the "espionage" criminal statute, simply because he published information that was classified.

Many of these laws are broadly worded enough that they could win a conviction.

Of course, what this would be would be an attack on the First Amendment, but that hasn't always stopped American courts before.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/politics/julian-assange-indictment-wikileaks.html

 

The real legal issue would be whether First Amendment protections do not apply to information the government has labeled as "secret".

Or whether sharing that information could endanger certain people's lives or damage the country.

Obviously it would be a very disturbing precedent.

 

It hasn't stopped USCourts before? What US publisher has been charged under the espionage act for publishing classified information?

 

I'd imagine Assange's immunity from retaliation as a "recognized" journalist has to be settled 1st. The debate can then address what info media is prohibited from publishing. The SCOTUS has to issue brightline decisions on both.

 

I think he can be successfully tried and convicted to espionage charges - in effect he did pass through classified information and delivered it to the whole world, which includes our adversaries. He could easily get life in prison for that.
By the way - I hope Snowden watches!

 

Not that I agree with that but it is within the realm of realistic possibility, unfortunately.

 

Given the NYT track record of late, I'll wait and see if he is actually charged in the US. Still trying to figure out what US law he would be charged under.

 

Wait if you like ... but if you google "DOJ accidentally reveals Assange" you'll have your choice of outlets.

 

And if, hypothetically, he had been charged, would you even really care?

 

By the way, it seems to me there is one thing Assange is good at - ruining his relationship with others. Ecuadorian government, then he used to be Democrats/liberals darling till he released damaging info on the Democratic Party in the heat of the US elections, so now in the US he has no allies among the ruling elite.
That’s how idiocy can get you in real trouble!

 

I don’t think he is a real journalist.

 

If you were on a jury would you vote to find him guilty?

 

President Trump is a pretty compassionate man, maybe he'll Pardon Assange if he is extradited here and can dig up Hillary's 30,000 lost emails.

 

I'd like to know what Assange's "violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols" were.

 

Does it matter? How and who decides who's a journalist? Wiki has millions of users daily. The NYT doesn't have the following Wiki has.

 

Thoughts?

He's facing torture and death, the Ecuadorian simpleton has fallen for the forked-tongued, and the internet faces a plethora of posts by projecting perverts hoping he's sexually molested in prison every day.

 

Well, I’d want to see unbiased evidence. His website is causing demand for leaked data, an incentive for hacking and stealing data. It’s like leaving next to a guy who buys up and resells stolen items, causing a demand and incentives for local criminals to break into houses and cars. I do tend to think that he should be punished somehow. At first I thought his long stay at the embassy will teach him, but it looks like he got worse and didn’t think through his actions. It’s like he fails to understand the connection between cause and effect.
Dems want him badly and they are viewed more favorably in the EU. We are close enough to next presidential elections for the U.K. or another European nation to deliver his head to us as a token of friendship.

 

...which will mean what if he's never extradited and charged under USLaw?

 

I would care to know what US law he is being charged under? It sounds like a pretty open and shut First Amendment issue to me.

 

Sorry, but no. Wikileaks and journalism are separate thing. Mass media is subject to scrutiny, while Wikileaks just causes demand for political hacking and theft of data.

 

Strange you should quote what Russia says. It's as if you give them some sort of moral authority.
If you do, that would be a betrayal of all those dissidents and journalists who were jailed, tortured
or murdered for speaking the truth.

 

I guess it means he'll have to avoid US extradition indefinitely.

 

Not exactly what you think

https://www.theguardian.com/media/l...rested-at-the-ecuadorean-embassy-live-updates