A UN convened legal panel has said we should allow Julian Assange to leave the Equadorean embassy and walk free. Our government has called the decision "ridiculous" and refused to comply with its findings. This reminds me of the Israeli response to any international court that finds their activities towards the Palestinian people a breach of international law. "You don't understand the situation on the ground" they say. "If you did you wouldn't say such silly, hurtful things about us."
Sweden has asked us to extradite Assange to answer accusations of rape. On the face of it that seems reasonable, though the situation is not as transparent as it seems. Apparently Assange and the woman in question did have consensual sex earlier that evening, then when she had fallen asleep he attempted to have sex with her once again. I admit here and now I have done that with more than one girlfriend. Sometimes they woke up and were as enthusiastic as I was. Sometimes they pushed me away and said "not now". I'm the kind of guy who does take no for an answer- but I don't know exactly what happened in Assange's case. What I do know is that it doesn't sound like rape on the basis of the evidence produced so far.
Perhaps Jules would be willing to go to Sweden to refute the charges, if it weren't for the fact that the US would like to have him in their clutches over the Wikileaks revelations and put him in a super-max facility for the next 400 years. With that kind of threat hanging over him, you can understand why he has imposed a form of house arrest on himself for nearly four years. As the situation currently stands he could remain there for the rest of his natural life. The UK government has been given a way out of the impasse, but unfortunately they're being so stupid they are refusing to grasp it with both hands. And the way they are playing it makes us look as bad as a number of loser countries who care little for international law. Shame on them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment