http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/16/julian-assange-few-friends-left-sweden
I commented:
Karin Olsson ignores the most important factors
in this case.
The first and most obvious - the elephant in the
room, the big picture - is the proportionality.
Assange is NOT under official suspicion of any
crime in Sweden. He is NOT charged with any crime, let alone absconding from a
trial or a sentence. The offences in relation to which he is wanted for
questioning BEAR NO RELATION to the issues relating to his fear of a
miscarriage of justice leading to his rendition to the USA, neither in
substance nor proportionality. Potential exemplary punishment of bad sexual
behaviour during an otherwise consensual encounter would be better exacted in a
case WITHOUT THE POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC ASPECTS of this one.
In this case the severity and seriousness of the
political and strategic tensions involved are beyond dispute, which can't be
said for the severity and seriousness of the alleged sexual crimes involved.
Sweden has a concrete record of handing people
over to the USA in collaboration with the CIA in breach of international law -
the case of the extraordinary rendition of two Egyptians in 2001
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition#Sweden) is the most
flagrant.
The USA has demonstrated very clearly the kind
of treatment Assange can expect if it gets hold of him by its treatment of
Bradley Manning. Manning is alleged to have supplied Wikileaks with a great
number of secret US documents. Assange is the head of Wikileaks and therefore
responsible for annulling the secrecy not just of these documents but all the
documents published on Wikileaks, most (but not all) of which are
diplomatically and politically embarrassing to the USA. So Assange can
reasonably expect even harsher treatment.
And since threats should taken into account
where a reasonable assessment of fear is concerned, the threats of execution
and assassination made by senior public officials in the US are highly relevant.
There's a good article in the Guardian by Mark Weisbrot about the situation now:
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