European human rights chief against extraditing Assange: “chilling effect on press freedom”'

Friday, February 21st 2020 - 08:32 UTC

Full article 3 comments

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States because it would have a chilling effect on press freedom, a European human rights chief said on Thursday. Assange, 48, is in prison in London, where an extradition hearing begins next week. The US authorities want to try him on 18 counts including to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. Read full article

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Terence Hill
“It was decided that the laws of the United States must apply to everyone while they were here. Thus, what emerged was TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.
https: //www.armstrongeconomics.com/writings/2013-2/international-law-territorial-jurisdiction/
”Jurisdiction (from the Latin ius, iuris meaning “law” and dicere meaning “to speak”) is the practical authority granted to a legal body to administer justice within a defined field of responsibility, In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels; e.g. the court has jurisdiction to apply federal law.“
https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction
”A warrant for the persons apprehension will be prepared and given to the Secretary of State who will then contact the foreign government to begin the international extradition process. The receiving nation then looks to its treaty obligations to the requesting nation and to its own laws on extradition, and decides whether or not to extradite ...“
https: //criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/extradition.html
Undoubtably Assange’s defence is that he is protected person as a journalist.
”In a 1977 Supreme Court opinion documenting the limitless scope of the constitutional free press guarantee, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote: “In short, the First Amendment does not ‘belong’ to any definable category of persons or entities: It belongs to all who exercise its freedoms.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/05/28/indictment-assange-is-blueprint-making-journalists-into-felons/#comments-wrapper
Feb 21st, 2020 - 12:23 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
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DemonTree
You should be talking about extra-territorial jurisdiction Terry, Assange wasn't in the US for any of the 'crimes' he's accused of committing.

I hope my government does the right thing and refuses this extradition request. Put him on a plane back to Australia and let them deal with him.
Feb 21st, 2020 - 01:43 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
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Terence Hill
I know he wasn't, but I no longer have access to All England Reports et al. I don't feel like spending more than a few minutes on it. Nor do we have all the pertinent facts. My guess is the US will claim he wasn't just acting as a passive journalist, but was an active participant in the break in. If that is the case, then I suspect, his goose is cooked.
Feb 21st, 2020 - 02:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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