Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is expected to appear in a UK court tomorrow!

[David Guyatt]

Now we know the meaning of a news piece earlier in this thread that US prosecutors had travelled to Oz to speak to the government about Assange. They were putting the fix in.

[Magda Hassan]

Now we know the meaning of a news piece earlier in this thread that US prosecutors had travelled to Oz to speak to the government about Assange. They were putting the fix in.

Carr is such a spineless door mat. Can't wait till he is gone. Wont be long because they'd rather lose the election that put the man in as leader who people will vote for and will let them win again. He had some cojones to stand up to the US which is one reason why he was removed.

[Magda Hassan]

Amidst discussion in Sweden on dropping the "case" VS. Assange, US Justice Minister Eric Holder arriving to meet Swedish counterpart & lecture in Parliament

artedenoli / 2 days ago
In the middle of an interesting Swedish debate on the whereabouts of the case in London, with a growing questioning on the validity of the "case Assange" done by multiple personalities of the legal system, it is now announced that US Justice Minister Eric Holder is scheduled to visit Sweden. The visit, due to the 4 of February, corresponds to an arrangement by the Swedish Parliament and the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm. According to a brief dispatch in SvD, it is assumed that Holder will also meet his Swedish counterpart Beatrice Ask. Other sources refer that Eric Holder shall be giving a lecture at a venue in the Swedish Parliament titled, "A More Just and Inclusive World: Confronting the Civil Rights Challenges of Our Time". Justice Minister Holder will be surely informed by his Swedish hosts on the niceties of the Swedish Justice system. In the context, he will be reassured on the loyalty of Sweden regarding the requests from US Justice and other government agencies. After all, the Swedish parliament complied efficiently with the US requests of instituting a new surveillance/spy legislation (FRA lagen) aimed to serve the interests of NATO as well as US corporations' interests. In the same fashion, the Swedish Ministry of Justice passed the legislation as requested by the American government to protect the commercial interests of the U.S. entertainment enterprises. At the expected meeting with PM Reinfeldt, Minister Holder will be reassured, as the PM has publicly stated specifically referring to their case against Assange, that this is a rättsstat, meaning a country with full respect for the law. But Minister Holder doesn't need such reassurances. He has the facts with him about the unconditional Swedish "legal" collaborationist stance and praxis: Namely, Sweden has granted 100 per cent of the extradition cases requested by the US, provided that the persons are on Swedish territory. This is done by the Swedish authorities with or without "legal system". This was the case of the "extraordinary renditions", namely prisoners given directly by the Swedish police, total clandestinely, to the CIA team sent to pick them up in the airports at the heart of Stockholm. The rättsstat that Prime Minister Reindfelt will be talking about is, however, also a constellation of peculiarities in the judicial, police and legal systems. Here is a sample of the "irregularities" viewed by international standards concerning the administration of justice with particular relation to the Swedish case against Julian Assange. Other items of the legal (and political) context of the case are discussed in my book "Human Rights Issues in the Swedish Case VS. Julian Assange". The book will be soon available on-line in Libertarianbooks.se

• Sweden has a judiciary system in which judges participating in the courts are appointed by the political parties (there is no Jury system in Sweden, nor does the institution of Bail exist inSweden). See further down in the book, chapter "Shall Sweden's Politically Appointed Judges Decide The Political Case Against The WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange?"
  
• Sweden allows secret, "closed-doors" trials. Particularly with regard to sexual-offences trials, where secret trials are the most common form used in the Swedish justice system.
  
• The appeal system in Sweden has been notably reduced after a 2008 law (the so-called EMR reform) devised to minimize the number of cases resulting in appeals to higher courts.
  
• In the Swedish case against Assange, the police investigators conducted interrogations without video-recording, sound-tape recording, or other forms of transcription. This is an aggravating anomaly, which infringed the clear standard procedures advised by the Police Authority with regard to cases involved suspicion of rape.
  
• The interrogation of one of the nominal accusers was performed by a police officer that was a friend of the other nominal accuser.
  
• The interrogation of Julian Assange could have very well have been conducted in Sweden, but the prosecutor chose to issue an Interpol warrant, which made possible the fabrication of an extradition case.
  
• The law-firm defending the accusers is co-owned by a politician, Mr. Thomas Bodström (former Minister of Justice), who at the time of the accusation was a member of the same political group within the Swedish Social Democratic Party as the accuser Ms. AA, who was the political secretary.
  
• The actual lawyer appointed by the firm (the other co-owner of the law firm) was initially Mr. Claes Bogström, who together with the prosecutor in the case, Ms. Marianne Ny, and the former Minister of Justice and chairman of the Justice Committee of the Swedish Parliament, Mr. Thomas Bodström participated in the study of new legislation which radicalized the proceedings and penalties for sexual offences in Sweden.
  

http://professorsblogg.com/2014/02/02/holder2visitswe/

[Magda Hassan]

Prosecutor Ny "has chosen" not to have hearings with Assange in London

artedenoli / 1 day ago
Prosecutor Ny "has chosen" not to have hearings with Assange in London

Professors blogg's translation: "Ã…KLAGAREN HAR VALT" = "THE PROSECUTOR HAS CHOSEN"

Comment regarding this evening's Program "Agenda"
2014-02-02

"The Television program Agenda is taking up the ongoing legal process against Julian Assange. The responsible prosecutor, or other representative of the prosecutor's authority, has been invited to participate, but declined. The reasons for this are as follows. The investigation is headed by the chief prosecutor Marianne Ny . According to her, there is currently no further information to disclose on the matter, other than what was previously reported. The reasons why the prosecutor has chosen not to hold hearings with Assange in London has been previously communicated; it is available (in this link). The text has been further suplemented, for clarification. The case is ongoing. The prosecution does not see any possibility for discussing in the media eventual future assessments or decisions that may be caused by developments in the case. This on behalf of both the suspect and the plaintiffs, and because the need of confidentiality in the preliminary investigation. Hence there is an overriding interest on that the prosecutor's argumentation pursues in the legal process, and not primarily in the media. For the same reason, and because the acting prosecutor is the solely decision-maker on the case, is not possible for any other representative of the prosecutor's authority to participate in a discussion about this specific case. As soon as a new decision has been taken on the case, or if there is new information, this will be reported by the prosecutor and published on this website."
http://professorsblogg.com/2014/02/02/pr...orschoice/

[Magda Hassan]

Time to drop the "case" VS. Assange. Debunking Sweden's political alibi

artedenoli / 4 hours ago

Against the backdrop of a drastic falling of Sweden's international status, the Assange "Case" emerged as the Swedish rulers' political alibi. Now when the plot has been debunked, it has come the time for the dropping of the "case"

But the Swedish Foreign Office is not the only Swedish political force profiting of the "case". While Carl Bildt uses the Assange "case" as cover for the failure of the current Sweden's geopolitics, "radical feminists" Claes Bodström, Marianne Ny, and Thomas Bordström are having a common ideological agenda: to enhance criminal meanings in the sexual behavior of the Swedish people. The "Assange Case" was declared "symbolic issue" .

by Marcello Ferrrada de Noli

Initiating a Series of four analyses introducing the book "Human-Rights Issues In The Swedish Case VS. Assange"

From the book, Chapter "Duckpond in the Swedish Legal System, Page 152: "Prosecutor Marianne Ny had at the time of her initiative to reopen the case against Julian Assange in August 2010 an assignment from the government. She was appointed expert in the Swedish Committee ensemble to propose a broadening of the criminal concept of rape in the context of hardening the legislation of sexual-offences. This is contained in a letter see it in box- sent to the Ministry of Justice (Chefen för Justitiedepartementet) by judge (rådman) Nils Petter Ekdahl : "The Government decided on the 17 of July 2008 to appoint a special investigator with the assignment of evaluating the applicability of the 2005 sexual-crimes legislation. . ." "To assist the investigation, Marianne Ny (named among the six appointed experts) was appointed (förordnade) from the 10 of September 2008 . . ." ______________________________________________________________________ Although many knew of the charming Kingdom of Sweden for a variety of reasons, what has most drawn the world attention to this nation in recent years is the political case against Julian Assange. For instance, Google News searching for "Sweden" in association with "Assange" gives twice as many hits as its association with previous trademarks such as "Nobel Prize in Medicine", or three times more than hits in association with "Abba".[1] The official version given by the authorities and the media to the Swedish public, is that the international criticism on Sweden a) concerns only the legal system, and b) it was brought up, in PM Fredrik Reinfelft own words, "in conjunction with the court procedures on the extradition of Julian Assange". [2] In further elaborations by government officials or by the media, it is asserted that WikiLeaks and Julian Assange himself directly author the said "discredit campaign".[3] Neither of the above official versions is truthful. Nevertheless irregularities in the legal system do exist,[4] the core of the international criticism has to do a) partly with the abandonment of a sovereign foreign policy and other geopolitical behaviours that Swedish rulers have deployed in the years after the assassination in Stockholm of PM Olof Palme; and b) partly with multiple violations perpetrated by Swedish government officials including ministers at the government against Human Rights conventions of which the country is a signatory. These behaviours have comprised severe violations of the UN Absolute Ban On Torture, for which Sweden has been sanctioned by the UN organ for Human Rights [5] and other international committees. I find relevant to note in the context, that one of the ministers accused as main figure in the decision-making of the extraordinary renditions to the CIA that led to the above-mentioned UN and European sanctions, is the former Justice minister Thomas Bodström, co-owner of the law firm Bodström & Borgström. I develop on this aspect in some chapters in this book a cause of the important implication of these two politicians in the diathesis of the "Assange case". For instance:

• a) At the time of the accusation done nominally by Ms "A" against Assange, Bodström was member of the same internal political phalange (Brotherhood) [6] within the Swedish Social Democratic Party to which the accuser Ms. A belonged; while Bodström was a senior, top-ranked politician in the group, Ms A was the "political secretary";
  

• b) While Tomas Bodström himself has proclaimed that it is his (and Borgström's) law firm the one "representing the plaintiffs", Claes Borgström has acknowledged in an interview with The Guardian that it was he who took the initiative for the reopening of the case upon the prosecutor office;
  

• c) The actual prosecutor turned out being Ms Marianne Ny, who had previously participated together with either Bodström, or Borgström, or both, in committees set by the government to study the enhancement of the sexual-offences legislation. [7]
  

• d) Interestingly, the new proposals in the legislation (under study) include precisely the type of "criminal behaviour" within "grey zones" which all along has been implied in the accusations against Julian Assange.
  

Reactions In recent developments, during an important voting at the Human-Rights organ of the United Nations in November 2012, Sweden obtained the lowest preference from the voting country-delegates. The election concerned Sweden's own candidacy towards becoming a member of the United Nations Human Rights organization. Also in recent years and for the first time in modern history, the government of Sweden has been obliged to face the burning of Swedish flags by angry protesters in countries as far away as Pakistan. Motive for those actions were found in the reaction of normal, law-abiding citizens of various countries, which felt insulted by the permissive stance of the Swedish government and Swedish media around the "Muhammad drawings controversy" of 2007, provoked by the racist Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. The native-Swedish cultural elites appealed to the "freedom of expression". Which was used as a pretext to further reproduce the offensive material. This was done in conscious disregard towards the numerous groups of immigrants and refugees, which, in spite of being of diverse nationalities, share peacefully Islam as their religion or culture. The behaviours implemented by the Swedish political and cultural elites on the Vilks affair, added Sweden's military occupation of Afghanistan were specifically given as reasons [8] by the suicide-bomber for his terrorist retaliation blast of Stockholm in December 2010. The straightforward SÄPO chief Anders Thornborg acknowledged that to the international media. [9] However, this was not publicized in Sweden, in spite it was the very first time that the centenaries-quiet streets of Stockholm witnessed a suicide-bomber action. Further, the Swedish government provided Vilks with National Security-police escort during his visit to New York on the 2 October 2012, where the racist cartoonist addressed anew an anti-Islam speech.[10] The irritation grew amidst the immigrants' high-density marginalized areas of Stockholm. Some months after, the Guardian announced, with some stupefaction, the following headlines, "Swedish riots spark surprise and anger As inequality and segregation start to rise". Initiated in the "suburb" of Husby, mainly allocating social discriminated immigrants, the protested were triggered by the shooting of an older immigrant by a member of the National police, during an investigation proceeding. Hundreds of cars were burned in Stockholm and other major cities by the rioters. Again, the Swedish government and the Swedish Main Stream Media (for brevity, called henceforth MSM) neglected to connect the domestic reaction to their policies and deeds, in the same fashion as they neglected to connect the drastic fall of the international status of Sweden with their own turn in the geopolitical arena. There was no Swedish MSM-article whatsoever, nor government analysis, connecting those happenings with the actual deeds conducted by the Swedish government or institutions. Not even at the occasion of the surprising explosions in the centre of Stockholm or at the above-mentioned race riots that debuted simultaneously in Stockholm and other major cities did Swedish journalists made any reference to behaviours of the government, including cases of institutional discrimination against immigrant minorities. Or those for which Sweden have received sanctions by the United Nations, or with Sweden's military occupation of Northern Afghanistan under U.S. command. In my late years I have been lecturing on Epidemiology under Swedish assignments in a variety of universities, including central Africa and Latin America. In Chile, on occasion of a lecturing at the School of Public Health, at the Medical Faculty of Chile University, I saw painted in walls at Providencia, not far from the Swedish Embassy, "OTAN Sueca fuera de Afganistan" ("Swedish NATO", get out from Afghanistan). Diplomatic people from Latin-American or African countries that I have met in connection with those academic activities have confide: "no more business with Sweden in the first place, as it was before". And the anti-Sweden sentiment abroad grows. Who to blame? The "case" as political alibi
Instead, the strategy of the MSM (which in Sweden it is subsidized by the State) and in conjunction with the State-owned "public-service" media has been to use the "case Assange" and WikiLeaks as a blunt alibi. And this is done with a not so subtle appealing to national chauvinistic sentiments. As mentioned above, already in 2011 PM Reindfelt was connecting in front of the public the international criticism on Sweden with the case Assange. Two months after, the State-owned TV broadcasted repeatedly over several days this headline: "How could the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange get the world into questioning Sweden's credibility?" [B][11][/B] The reader should note the emphasis SvT is doing on "WikiLeaks founder" (my cursives), a status that it should have nothing to do with a case, which as Sweden has repeated to the international forum, is against an individual and for his individual behaviour. In true, the case is ultimately about what WikiLeaks disclosed on Sweden and fundamentally on USA. And the Swedish Ministry of Defence goes farther in this line. On the 29 February 2012, the National Television of Sweden aired a long reportage program focused on WikLeaks and Assange during the main news program Aktuell. The reporter, a Military-Intelligence trainee then working as envoy for Swedish Television, interviewed Mike Winnerstig, a high-rank representative of FOA (a military-research institute under the Ministry of Defence). Winnerstig's angle in the sending to the Swedish public was that WikiLeaks and Assange have an "agenda" consisting in targeting USA and allies (Sweden) but not Russia (Sweden's "archenemy" state). Secondly, Winnerstig said expressly that Assange exercises blackmail against Sweden. He refers to the "disclosures" Sweden was expecting around Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. In other words, Assange is clearly presented in Sweden not as a "crime suspect individual" but as the enemy of Sweden; the agent that has caused "the world into questioning Sweden's credibility"! Carl Bildt's Office contradicts itself I am aware that this may be difficult for non-Swedes to understand this context, since the "Assange case" is presented outside Sweden as a "legal case". But here is a further contradiction. If it were so, as Sweden's rulers say, a) that the case VS. Assange is "only legal" and only pertinent to the judicial system, and b) that Assange is a figure in decay, isolated and deprived of influence, etc., one question is; How come that the case deserves (for the first time in the history of Sweden, to the best of my knowledge) special information pages in Swedish and English in the official websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well of the Prosecutor Authority? Why would the very Prime Minister of Sweden care interfering publicly in "the independent legal case" of an "insignificant Assange"? [12] During 2012 several demonstrations in main cities of Sweden started to call for Bildt's resignation. This was an odd event in "consensus" Sweden, but the news about the fall of Sweden's international prestige was reaching domestic dimensions. It was then when the MSM sat in motion "Plan Z Saving Minister Bildt". The government had an alibi, it was not Bildt's wrong doings; it was WikiLeaks, particularly Julian Assange, characterized as Sweden's No 1 enemy. But it was not any longer the version of Assange attacking Sweden, but of WikiLeaks and Assange "targeting" concretely Carl Bildt. Which of course it was demonstrated a blunt lie. How the "case" Assange was used with this purpose I describe in detail in "Plan Z: The anti-WikiLeaks campaigns in the Swedish media. Saving Minister Bildt?" Further, the "radical feminist" organizations acting in public events with the Swedish politicians that pushed the reopening of the case, [13] refer unequivocally in public banderols or press releases to "the case against the WikiLeaks founder", which also denotes anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks as being the real target behind the "legal" pretence. This, in its turn, leads us to the superpowers and satellite governments that have been exposed by Assange's organization. I am not referring to the Swedish feminist movement in general, neither to all "radical feminists". I personally now many of these cadres and for whom I praise trust and respect. I am only referring to the fascist-wise feminists, often right-wing, which in spite of characterizing themselves of being "radical", do not have the focus on societal issues including gender inequality. They are instead focused in a "gender war" against men as such. In fact, they are more motivated by gaining positions of hierarchy amidst the cultural, political and corporate elites. They are, in alliance with fundamentalist academics carrying extreme, irrational anti-men positions, main ideological pillars of Swedish State Feminism. I argue that: i. Behind the Swedish "legal case" against Assange, there is a political case. Although Sweden is acting against the backdrop of the known WikiLeaks disclosures on this government, in the main is following Sweden's current geopolitical and military alignment with the US * partly concretized in "secret Intelligence agreements of collaboration".[14] According to facts, Sweden is not a "Neutral" country. ii. The political aim in the case goes even beyond the destruction of WikiLeaks; it also aims to counteract the whistleblowing movement, among other measures, by means of terrorizing ad hominem.[15] In this regard, the Swedish mainstream media and State-owned media apparatus have deployed a consistent campaign, what has constituted a "Trial by media" on Julian Assange. iii. Sweden has further used the case for ideological purposes within its foreign policy; for instance, as a vehicle to proselytise ideological claims of Sweden's state-feminism. iv. The management of the Swedish case has comprised breaches in the human rights of Julian Assange. v. In the context of the above issues, the characteristics of the Swedish legal system would not guarantee per se a fair trial of Julian Assange. vi. At the contrary of what is stated by Swedish sources, it is the Swedish government and not the judicial system which ultimately can decide the issue of extradition to a third country. The government is fully entitled to issue guarantees of a non-extradition.

---

[1] Retrieved 24 Jan 2014

[2] Fredrik Reinfeldt's declarations in: "Beklagar att kvinnors rätt och ställning väger så lätt. Statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt (M) om Assange-fallet". Aftonbladet, 8 Feb 2011.

[3] See Part II, "The Trial By Media".

[4] See Part V, on the Swedish legal system.

[5] UN Committee Against Torture, CAT/C/34/D/233/2003, 24 May 2005

[6] "Broderskap" (Brotherhood), nowadays renamed to "Faith & Solidarity", is a Christian phalange within the Swedish Social Democratic Party.

[7] For sources, see chapter Duckpond In Swedish Legal System, in Part V in this book.

[8] The rationale was given both in written message, and in videotape.

[9] See my post "Afghanistan, Lars Vilks, bomb, Sweden". Professors blogg, 13 Dec 2010.

[10] SvT, " Lars Vilks konstnär och provokatör eller rasist? Uppdrag granskning, 28 Sept 2012.

[11] Trailer of the anti-Assange documentary by the Swedish National Television, SvT-1. 7 Apr 2011.

[12] Fredrik Reinfeldt has publicly implied that the Assange case is about a) the right of the two women b) to make the world to respect the Swedish legislation on sexual-offences.

[13] Politician Claes Borgström, formerly Ombudsman for gender issues appointed by the Persson government. His partner in the law firm Bodström & Borgström is the former Justice Minister of the same government, later a resident if the U.S. at Virginia.

[14] Some of the secret agreements on the Intelligence collaboration of Sweden with the US mainly disclosed by the WikiLeaks Dipolmatic Cables of 2010 and subsequently by Edward Snowden revelation of 2013 have been analysed by Prof. Wilhem Agrell, e.g. "Det är samma gamla lik som trillar ur garderoberna" (DN, 7 Dec 2010); "FRA spionage mot Ryska civila mål" (SvD, 7 Dec 2013).

[15] After the Assange case initiated in 2010, attacks ad hominem have followed also suit, e.g. against Aaron Swartz, Jeremy Hammons, and Edward Snowden.
http://professorsblogg.com/2014/02/03/dropassangecase/

[David Guyatt]

It took a long time getting there but the crux of this essay is this:

Behind the Swedish "legal case" against Assange, there is a political case. Although Sweden is acting against the backdrop of the known WikiLeaks disclosures on this government, in the main is following Sweden's current geopolitical and military alignment with the US * partly concretized in "secret Intelligence agreements of collaboration".[14]

[Magda Hassan]

Text Messages from Victim of Alleged Rape, Molestation Prove Assange Innocent: Wikileak Affidavit

By Johnlee Varghese: Subscribe to Johnlee's RSS feed | February 4, 2014 5:16 PM IST

Wikileaks Founder Assange waving last June from the window of Ecuador's London embassy/Reuters


Even as members of Sweden's parliament have been stepping up pressure on prosecutors to question Julian Assange on the sexual allegations he faces in the country, Assange in a Wikileaks affidavit has claimed that text messages between the two alleged victims prove his innocence.
In the affidavit, which has been published on the WikiLeaks website, Assange tries to prove his innocence, citing the text message sent by the alleged victims.
Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, has been living at Ecuador's embassy in London since the Latin American country granted him political asylum in the summer of 2012. He was arrested in the UK in December 2010 on a European Union-wide warrant requested by Sweden, over the rape and molestation allegations.
The allegation is that Assange raped one woman and molested another, during a visit to Stockholm in 2010. However, the affidavit has one alleged victim saying in a text message that "it was the police who made up the charges". The text message further adds that she "did not want to put any charges on JA but that the police were keen on getting a grip on him".
Assange has long maintained that the Swedish investigation is politically motivated and backed by Washington for speeding up his extradition to the US, where he claims he would be charged for publishing thousands of classified US government documents. The affidavit notes that the victim texted that she was "chocked [sic] when they arrested JA because she only wanted him to take a [STD] test".
Further quoting from the 'Agreed Facts' filed to the UK Supreme Court, the affidavit noted: "During his visit he [Assange] had sexual intercourse with two women [AA and SW]. After AA and SW spoke to each other and realised that they had both had intercourse with the Appellant during the currency of his visit in circumstances where respectively they had or might have been or become unprotected against disease or pregnancy, SW wanted the Appellant to get tested for disease. On 20th August 2010 SW went to the police to seek advice. AA accompanied her for support. The police treated their visit as the filing of formal reports for rape of SW and molestation of AA."
The affidavit also gives out screen-shot link to the Twitter page of AA, who claimed that Assange never raped her. The actual tweet post, however, has been deleted.
In the most recent move, the Swedish government, which is yet to formally charge Assange, is mulling over a proposal to send prosecutors to the UK, to follow-up on the sexual misconduct inquiry.
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/537252...harges.htm

[Magda Hassan]

http://wikileaks.org/IMG/html/Affidavit_...sange.html

[Magda Hassan]

End the circus and speak to Assange, urge Swedish MPs

• Julian Assange has spent the past 19 months Times photographer Mary Turner
  

David Charter
Published 1 minute ago


Swedish MPs are losing patience with the legal impasse over the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent the past 19 months in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
They have urged prosecutors investigating sexual assault allegations against him to travel to London and question him at the embassy. The MPs said investigators should accept that Mr Assange would not go to Sweden voluntarily. It is the first sign of political unrest in Sweden over the saga.
The stand-off between Mr Assange, 42, and Marianne Ny, the prosecutor, began in June 2012 when he took refuge at the embassy, claiming that

Paywalled after this...

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world...cle3995801

[Peter Lemkin]

The Circus MUST go on.....if the USA is ever to get Assange via their friends in Sweden...which I believe has been the plan all along. This is SO out of character for the Swedish legal system and must have a hidden purpose behind it...which the good professor has explained in spades.