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Ecuador sees ‘light’ in Julian Assange case

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The surprise offer by Swedish prosecutors to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador's London embassy over rape allegations last week offers a clear breakthrough in the deadlocked case, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino has said.

Julian Assange took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden and has been there ever since.

Up to now, Swedish prosecutors have refused to go to London to question the43-year-old Australian former hacker over the allegations.

But the prosecutor in charge of the case, Marianne Ny, said last week shewas dropping her opposition as some of the alleged offences will reach theirstatute of limitations in August.

"This allows us to see a light at the end of the tunnel," Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Washington.

"That light is still not close, but this is the first time there is a movement in the Swedish judicial system suggesting that it may proceed with an interview."

The top Ecuadoran diplomat said he welcomed the Swedish move, but regretted it had not taken place earlier.

Last week Assange's lawyer Per Samuelsson told The Local that the Wikileaks founder viewed the development as a great victory.

"But simultaneously he was irritated that it took so long for the prosecutor to do her job properly...there is a mixture of feelings," he added.

When she [the chief prosecutor] hears his version of events, we are convinced she will believe he is innocent and will drop all her suspicions, he concluded.

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Ecuador sees 'light' in Julian Assange case

Assange likely to remain in embassy pending US Wikileaks probe

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LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is likely to remain at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he has taken refuge as long as U.S. authorities pursue a criminal investigation of his anti-secrecy group, one of his lawyers said.

Speculation rose that he might leave the embassy after Swedish authorities last week offered to question him there over allegations of sexual misconduct, dropping their insistence that he go to Stockholm for questioning about a 2010 incident.

He refused to return to Sweden, arguing that the Swedes would send him on to the United States to face possible trial. Assange, 43, denies the allegations, which are not related to WikiLeaks publication of US military and diplomatic documents five years ago.

Michael Ratner, a US lawyer who represents Assange and WikiLeaks, said if Assange left the embassy, where he has been holed up for just over 1,000 days, he was likely to be arrested by British authorities and risked being extradited to America.

Even were the Swedish case to be disposed of, the UK would arrest Assange upon leaving the embassy for claimed violations of bail conditions or something similar, Ratner told Reuters. Washington would almost certainly seek his extradition, he said.

Ratner said a recent federal court ruling disclosed that the FBI and US Justice Department were conducting a multi-subject investigation of WikiLeaks and he said it had been going on for at least five years.

Another legal source close to Assange said he would remain in the Ecuadorean Embassy until the US ended a grand jury investigation of WikiLeaks.

Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the US Attorneys office in Alexandria, Virginia, said the investigation into WikiLeaks remained open. Other US law enforcement sources said criminal charges had not yet been filed against Assange.

The sex allegations against Assange, who is an Australian, were lodged against him by two female WikiLeaks supporters who hosted him during a visit to Sweden.

British authorities have declined to say what they might do if Sweden were to close its investigation of Assange and he were to try to leave the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

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Assange likely to remain in embassy pending US Wikileaks probe

Julian Assange likely to remain at Ecuadorean embassy in London

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is likely to remain at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he has taken refuge as long as U.S. authorities pursue a criminal investigation of his anti-secrecy group, one of his lawyers said.

Speculation rose that he might leave the embassy after Swedish authorities last week offered to question him there over allegations of sexual misconduct, dropping their insistence that he go to Stockholm for questioning about a 2010 incident.

He refused to return to Sweden, arguing that the Swedes would send him on to the United States to face possible trial. Assange, 43, denies the allegations, which are not related to WikiLeaks publication of U.S. military and diplomatic documents five years ago.

Michael Ratner, a U.S. lawyer who represents Assange and WikiLeaks, said if Assange left the embassy, where he has been holed up for just over 1,000 days, he was likely to be arrested by British authorities and risked being extradited to America.

Even were the Swedish case to be disposed of, the U.K. would arrest Assange upon leaving the embassy for claimed violations of bail conditions or something similar, Ratner told Reuters. Washington would almost certainly seek his extradition, he said.

Ratner said a recent federal court ruling disclosed that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department were conducting a multi-subject investigation of WikiLeaks and he said it had been going on for at least five years.

Another legal source close to Assange said he would remain in the Ecuadorean Embassy until the U.S. ended a grand jury investigation of WikiLeaks.

Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys office in Alexandria, Virginia, said the investigation into WikiLeaks remained open. Other U.S. law enforcement sources said criminal charges had not yet been filed against Assange.

The sex allegations against Assange, who is an Australian, were lodged against him by two female WikiLeaks supporters who hosted him during a visit to Sweden.

British authorities have declined to say what they might do if Sweden were to close its investigation of Assange and he were to try to leave the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

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Julian Assange likely to remain at Ecuadorean embassy in London

US Reportedly Threatened to Withhold Intelligence If Germany Gave Snowden Asylum – Video

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US Reportedly Threatened to Withhold Intelligence If Germany Gave Snowden Asylum
Make Sure to Subscribe to the New J.KNIGHT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnLrtqd5qxC_f1lOnrybpnA There #39;s now a pretty clear reason why Edward Snowden hasn #39;t found asylum in ...

By: Dahboo777

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US Reportedly Threatened to Withhold Intelligence If Germany Gave Snowden Asylum - Video

Let’s Give Edward Snowden the Same Deal General Petraeus …

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General David H. Petraeus and Edward Snowden (Laura Poitras/Praxis Films)

General David Petraeus has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified material and will serve no jail time for his actions. Lets give the same deal to Edward Snowden.

True, their crimes are different: Petraeus gave classified info to his biographer and girlfriend, Paula Broadwell. Snowden gave classified info to the American people.

Theres another difference: as The Washington Post reported, Petraeus initially lied to FBI investigatorshe told them he had never provided Broadwell with classified information. That was in an interview at CIA headquarters. Snowden in contrast told the truth about what he did, and why he did it. That was in an interview in Laura Poitrass Oscar-winning film Citizenfour.

And theres one more big difference: Snowden has done a lot more to defend Americans freedom than Petraeus ever did. In fact you might say Petraeus made America weaker as US commander in the Iraq war starting in 2007, a war that created more enemies for the US.

Petraeuss deal, as The New York Times noted, allows him to focus on his lucrative post-government career as a worldwide speaker on national security issues. A similar deal for Snowden would probably make him a worldwide speaker on national security issues, but without the lucrative element.

I'm not the first person to make this suggestion: Jesselyn Radack wrote about it in Foreign Policy (and she credits Peter Maass in The Intercept).

Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50!

And while were giving Snowden the same deal that Petraeus got, lets release Stephen Kim, whos serving thirteen months in prison for talking to a Fox News reporter about a single classified report on North Korea. Lets apologize to, and compensate, former CIA agent John Kiriakou, who served almost two years in federal prison from 2013 to 2015 for disclosing the name of a covert CIA officer to a freelance reportera name that was not published. While were at it, lets punish the torturers, not the people who leaked information about torture.

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Let's Give Edward Snowden the Same Deal General Petraeus ...


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