Julian Assange Fears 'Guantanamo' Or 'Death Penalty' If Extradited To U.S.

In a "skeleton defense" posted on his lawyers' website today, Julian Assange's team posits that he could be subject to "being detained at Guantanamo Bay" or subject to the death penalty were he to be extradited to Sweden, which could lead to extradition to the U.S.

The WikiLeaks founder appeared in court today to schedule his extradition hearing for questioning in Sweden over alleged sex crimes. His defense claims that extradition to Sweden could lead to a subsequent extradition "and/or illegal rendition" to the U.S.

According to the statement, Assange's lawyer's posited that:

...there will be a real risk of him being detained at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere ... there is a real risk that he could be made subject to the death penalty. It is well-known that prominent figures have implied, if not stated outright, that Mr. Assange should be executed...

Outside of the court, Assange slammed what he described as the "unprecedented violent rhetoric by U.S. prominent media personalities," drawing parallels with his own experience and that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, whose shooting over the weekend has sparked a debate across the U.S. over vitriolic political statements.

Assange has been described by a "high tech terrorist" by both Sarah Palin on the right and Joe Biden on the left.

Despite his concerns over extradition, Assange has vowed not to stop publishing the Cablegate documents. Instead, he has promised to work even more quickly for their release. According to the Guardian, he said today:

Our work with WikiLeaks continues unabated. We are stepping up our publications for matters relating to Cablegate and other materials.

These will shortly be available through our newspaper partners around the world - big and small newspapers and human rights organisations.

Comments

[EvolveorPerish]

07:09 PM on 01/13/2011

Defend free speech or lose it. Even if you don't like or agree with the speaker. If no one speaks out, we will all be silenced, and that is not an exaggeration.

I do not personally know Mr. Assange, but I wouldn't care to insult him even if I did. He's a lot braver than me typing in the safety of my home, accountable to no one.

And the official word for 2011 is . . . . .

Vitriol!

[NebDem78]

12:56 AM on 01/13/2011

I don't agree with the description "high-tech-terrorist." I agree with the description high-tech-anarchist. I do not trust Julian Assange or Wiki-Leaks.

[samuraifrog37]

09:44 PM on 01/12/2011

The odd thing about this guy, is that he really is of no real importance and I think the media and some Pols. have turned him into a star. Irrelevant and a small footnote very shortly. much bigger events swirl around us.

[Neil Bolton]

12:28 AM on 01/13/2011

And yet he won - by a country mile - the readers' vote for Time's Man of the Year. I think he is rather important. In my more "out there" moments I put him with Nelson Mandela, The Lady, Martin Luther King.

[Lozange]

01:09 PM on 01/12/2011

Wagging his own dog a bit wide IMO.

[Florence Baumgartner]

12:46 PM on 01/12/2011

Interesting interview of Assange,

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/01/china-wikileaks-assange

[75thRanger]

12:32 PM on 01/12/2011

We can only hope.

[tarheel08]

11:57 AM on 01/12/2011

I think Assange is more afraid of deportation to *Sweden*, where he will face these rape charges. Unless I'm missing something, Sweden would be less likely than the U.K. to extradite Assange to the U.S., given they are very strongly against violations of human rights & are not as closely allied. For Sweden to extradite Assange to the U.S., I would imagine there would be guarantees of no death penalty or 'enemy combatant' classification.

[woodshoe]

12:45 PM on 01/12/2011

umm,.. excepting that there ARE NO "CHARGES", rape or otherwise..

and as previously linked (will link again) thanks to wikileaks we NOW know that sweden is perfectly comfortable undermining the will and interests of its own population at the behest of US power,.. no need for speculation.

there really ought to be a button for "embedded premise" along with fav and flag buttons.

misinfo (at best) and disinfo (at worst) are ALL OVER among the comments on this thread.

AS YET julian assange has not been charged with ANY CRIME, ANYWHERE. (..and this after he made himself enthusiastically available for interview by swedish authorities for fully 5 weeks.)

re, 'progressive sweden' meme;

http://www­.telegraph­.co.uk/new­s/worldnew­s/wikileak­s/8202745/­WikiLeaks-­Swedish-go­vernment-h­id-anti-te­rror-opera­tions-with­-America-f­rom-Parlia­ment.html

[rhymney]

04:41 PM on 01/12/2011

Sweden has issued European arrest warrants for Assange.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11930488

[Timma]

09:57 PM on 01/12/2011

Thanks for the link.

[deluk]

01:40 PM on 01/12/2011

Actually you are wrong, Assange chose the UK for a reason. 

"For Sweden to extradite Assange to the U.S., I would imagine there would be guarantees of no death penalty or 'enemy combatant' classifica­tion"  The UK will not extradite to the US under threat of death, this is a common EU stance.

[langej]

11:38 AM on 01/12/2011

Absolute Tripe. The lawyer (known for grandstand plays) put this up for publicity only and no court in the UK will give it any serious weight. However, UK courts are unlikely to allow extradition for questioning by prosecutors, especially since the prosecutors could interview Assange in England - or via vidoconference if they are too lazy to make the trip..

[tice]

11:38 AM on 01/12/2011

I'm not mad at Assange, he's reporting information he obtained just like any other news outlet.

I'm mad at Manning, for the treasonous acts of giving secret documents to a foreign entity without even knowing what the documents contained.

I'm mad at the US government, for not giving access to secret data on a purely "need-to-know" basis. Not a "clearance level" basis, but a need-to-know one. Also, for not tracking when documents are copied and not obviating this scenario by locking down all removable storage.

It's the US government's job to keep secret data secret, once it's been let out a non-American or non-ally has no obligation to keep it secret. They might not be welcome here but what else can you do?

[abbienormal]

11:19 AM on 01/12/2011

Seems like a reasonable fear.

[Marco Agosti]

11:04 AM on 01/12/2011

Free information!!

[razz devavres]

10:54 AM on 01/12/2011

Barrack Obama had done nothing to earn his Nobel Prize at the time. Even now, despite the good he's done, I don't think he really deserves it.
Here, Julian Assange has fought for human rights and government transparency, and risks imprisonment and death.
What a wonderful world we live in.

[Fernando Poo]

10:54 AM on 01/12/2011

American apathy and deference to authority is almost as stunning as its twisted ethical base. C'mon people! You'd prefer a corrupt government that represents its own interests above those of its people to one that protects whistleblowers and earnest journalism? Really? You trust your supernanny that much?

How did we come to this? It is not an issue of left v. right, nor is it an issue of pro- v. anti-americanism. This is an issue of liberty versus tyranny, freedom of speech, the press, and association versus government corruption and totalitarian socialism coming to the US.

How about some support from Assange from the Tea Party too? I thought you folks believed in a limited government that truly represents the people, and weren't fond of tyranny... No?

[SantaFeConservative]

10:39 AM on 01/12/2011

If Assange did not assist Manning in the theft of the classified material, then he has nothing to fear. If Assange did assist Manning, then he's in a heap of trouble.

[wardropper]

10:34 AM on 01/12/2011

Outrageous that we're seriously waiting to find out if an AUSTRALIAN accused in SWEDEN can be extradicted from BRITAIN to face charges in the UNITED STATES...!

And what's the common factor in all this?
The United States, which isn't even embarrassed to mind everybody's business but its own.