Mainstream media around the world has been plastered with headlines stating Julian Assange's impending extradition to Sweden. But the ruling is far more complicated than that, and the case currently has the potential of being reopened. This is nearly unprecedented, as Britain has not reopened a case since Pinochet in 1999.
Notwithstanding the clear UK meaning of ‘judicial authority’ to mean a magistrate, judge or court; notwithstanding that Parliamentary debates and reading speeches reiterated that definition; notwithstanding the primacy of the UK parliament to enact law for effect in the UK; notwithstanding the Framework Agreement using the same word(s) in an official English version of it as the Extradition Act: the Supreme Court (decided cases) has stated by majority that parliamentarians were conned because an obscure Convention gives a contrary, minority meaning.
Transcript of the UK Supreme Court handing down the judgment in Julian Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority, 09:15 on 30 May 2012. The full judgment and further statement is available at the UK Supreme Court's website.
A BBC radio reporter in Stockholm this morning reporting on the Assange case said that Assange left the country not knowing there was an arrest warrant issued for him but managed to avoid bringing up the 5 weeks he waited in Sweden beyond his planned visit to be questioned, only leaving when the Swedes said he could.
The UKSC has the luxury of answering one simple question, whilst the world around swirls with complex issues. Leaving aside the possibility that the case against Assange seems to be politically motivated, that the Americans may want to extradite him, and that the women in question have never claimed that they didn't willingly have sex with Assange, there is still the exploitation of this situation by some powers that be.
Today at approximately 09:20AM the UK Supreme Court ruled against Julian Assange, upholding the European Arrest Warrant which orders his extradition to Sweden. Mr Assange's battle against extradition has so far spanned 540 days, 530 of which he spent electronically tagged under house arrest, the other 10 held in solitary confinement. He has not been charged with any crime and is being extradited solely for the purpose of questioning.
It is the first bilateral visit to Sweden by a US Secretary of State in a long time, Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt writes, as he wishes a warm welcome to US Secretary Hillary Clinton who will arrive in the country just 4 days after Britain's Supreme Court announces its decision on whether Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden.
The announcement of Clinton's visit to Sweden, which will center around the subjects of "Internet freedom, green energy, Afghanistan and the Middle East", as well as other broad topics such as democracy and counter-terrorism, took place just 3 days after the Supreme Court published a date for Julian Assange's verdict to be issued. (The Supreme Court published the date of its judgment on May 23, Secretary Clinton's visit was announced on May 26.)
UPDATED WITH VIGIL INFO AND STATEMENT FROM CIARON O'REILLY:
Numbers are still growing for tonight's Brisbane #Rally4JA vigil from 4pm. Many thanks to Ciaron, Adele, Damien, Peter, Jimmy, Angela, Mark, Maggie, Carole, Razza, Kay, Cully, Martin, Phil, Janet and possibles Sean, AJ, Jim, Simon. Anyone else interested in joining contact Ciaron ciaronx AT yahoo dotcom or come along from 4pm outside DFAT corner Ann and Creek streets. There will be speakers and musicians from 5pm with the UK Supreme Court decision expected after 6pm AEST.
This Brisbane vigil joins in solidarity with the vigil in London outside the UK Supreme Court. It has been organised by former anti-war prisoner of the United States Ciaron O'Reilly, a Brisbane-born veteran protestor who has regularly assisted Julian Assange at court cases in the UK.
On July 29, 2010, the then Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, ordered the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ronald L. Burgess, to stand up an Information Review Task Force, to lead a comprehensive review of the documents allegedly given to WikiLeaks in concert with interagency participants.
Foreword: On Sunday 27 May 2012, Swedish state media again attacked Julian Assange, this time in an attempt to link him to an unrelated ongoing murder investigation and to blame him for the difficulties Swedish authorities have had in their investigation.
This latest attack shows how thoroughly Swedish state media are biased against him and how public opinion has been poisoned against him, to the extent it's now inconceivable he can receive a fair trial.
We urge our readers to write to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and bring this to his attention, to ask him to act to protect Julian from unfair extradition. A template letter is provided below - it's based on an earlier petition published by Justice for Assange.
Sunday 27 May 2012 Stockholm: Swedish state radio attempted early this morning to lay the blame for difficulties in the ongoing investigation of an unrelated Swedish murder case on Julian Assange.
Their article published online attempts to claim Assange is obstructing the course of justice by appealing his case before the UK Supreme Court and that killers pursued by Swedish authorities might go free as a result of a ruling in his favour.
On 30 May 2012 the UK Supreme Court will announce the ruling in the case regarding the extradition to Sweden of Julian Assange, after Assange has spent 540 days under house arrest without charge. Following a European Arrest Warrant issued in December 2010 on allegations of sexual misconduct, Assange submitted himself for arrest. Though Assange has not been charged, Swedish prosecutors have sought extradition from the UK for questioning.
On May 23, Julian Assange attended a screening of "Shadows of Liberty" wearing a kevlar Guy Fawkes mask.
The United States Army and Marine Corps call their enlisted job specialties, "MOS's," or Military Occupation Specialties.
Bradley Manning was a 35F or 35 Fox, Military Intelligence Analyst, assigned to Company B, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division Light Infantry (LI), when, the US Government says, he disclosed the largest leak of classified information in US History.
According to the US Army, the mission of the 35F Military Occupational Specialty [MOS] is to "gather, analyze, and report intelligence information that reveals the intended secrets of hostile forces," and 35F "must qualify for a top secret clearance with special access eligibility."
It should be noted, his alleged leak concerned information only marked at the lowest level of classification, "SECRET", or was not classified at all.
For example, on testimony by Army CID Agent, Toni Graham, at Bradley Manning's Article 32 Pretrial Hearing and similarly at the March 16, 2011 Motion Hearing for US v PFC Bradley Manning, there is still uncertainty as to whether or not the July 12, 2007 Baghdad air strike video, commonly known as "Collateral Murder" was classified or not.
35Fs analyze data including weather, terrain, and the position of opposing forces. They are trained to read and interpret maps, electronically plot symbols, and consolidate intelligence data onto a situation map.
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