Australia’s Parliament has finally passed a motion saying Assange should be returned to Australia. The vote was 86 Yes, 42 No. Andrew Wilkie, MP was the ringleader. Barnaby Joyce abstained from voting.
Apparently, the London Home Secretary will make the decision. Do you recall when the Home Secretary (Jack Straw) decided that Augusto Pinochet need not be sent to Spain, per extradition, as he was too old or infirm to cope?
Human Rights Watch wrote:
“The House of Lords, in its second decision on March 24, 1999, ruled that the only crimes for which General Pinochet could be extradited were torture and conspiracy to torture after December 8, 1988, when the U.N. torture convention took effect in the U.K. Magistrate Bartle specifically ruled, however, that Pinochet’s conduct before 1988—which would include the creation of the secret police and the establishment of Operation Condor targeting Pinochet’s opponents abroad—could be examined by the Spanish courts in proving the existence of a conspiracy which continued after December 1988. This ruling is in line with the language of the House of Lords decision.”
In other words, Pinochet got off despite a court (House of Lords) saying it was legal to extradite him.
I entitled this article “Where Do I Stand,” meaning “What Does My Americanism Think Should Be Done?”
I enjoy mocking those who say the US would mistreat him. We have a great system of justice in the Great Republic. Really, it’s flawless — if there weren’t a bunch of criminals (e.g., Merrick Garland) running it.
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I suspect that all the lengthy delays in getting Assange to travel across the pond reflect a desire by the Powerful to NOT let him into the US, as his criminal charges would not hold up for a minute here.
The charges are for several counts of espionage and one count of messing with a computer. The original downloading of the classified documents was done by a Private in the army named Bradlee Manning, later Chelsea Manning. She was tried and convicted and served seven years (I think) in jail, but her sentence was then commuted by Obama.
There will be no way for a foreigner, namely Julian Assange, a citizen of Australia (born in Townsville!), to be found guilty of espionage. It would open up the whole subject of extra-territorial jurisdiction. God knows, the US government would not relish that. It would suggest that every country and its dog could bring charges against Americans.
(Help!)
It would also bring Abu Ghraib into the forefront again. You may recall that the late US Sen Diane Feinstein “led” the Senate report on torture, taking 12 years to present the findings, which then got back-burner’d.
Back to Human Rights Watch again
“The conspiracy charge goes to the heart of the case because it alleges that Pinochet used torture as a weapon of intimidation and political persecution. By allowing evidence of conduct that occurred before 1988, Bartle’s ruling clearly permits the Spanish prosecutors to prove that General Pinochet built a state apparatus that relied on torture and that he was fully aware that torture was practiced systematically.”
Wow. Can’t have that!
On the subject of the US, or the cabal, wanting to keep Julian out of sight, recall that the cabal must have been behind the cooked-up sex charges against him in Sweden. Likely, the cabal also oversaw the hospitality of the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Stella Assange claims in the above interview that Mike Pompeo, a member of the Trump Cabinet, was planning to assassinate her husband. This, too, is quite a reason for the US to wish Julian would go back to Oz, so we don’t have to deal with the Mary Maxwells of this world making a federal case out of Pompeo’s sins.
Note to Readers, I have now been excommunicated by Disquis and all the other platforms, so I won’t be able to respond to criticisms of this post, but try anyway! Thanks.