Julian Assange to stay in prison over absconding fears

Was just watching an interview with Tommy Robinson since he was just released from prison, and in it he mentions that Julian Assange was staying in the same prison. I decided to check exactly why Julian was in prison and when he would be getting out, only to see a judge recently decided to keep him locked up over fear he would "abscond", which presumably means attempt to flee the country.

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is to remain in prison when his jail term ends because of his "history of absconding", a judge has ruled.

He was due to be released on 22 September after serving his sentence for breaching bail conditions.

But Westminster Magistrates' Court heard there were "substantial grounds" for believing he would abscond again.

The Australian, 48, is fighting extradition to the US over allegations of leaking government secrets.

Julian Assange to stay in prison over absconding fears

For a start this "breaching bail" charge seems kind of spurious considering that he sought political asylum and was granted it by Ecuador, which is a lot different to simply breaching bail. Unfortunately it seems like the news of Tommy being released has overshadowed the news of Assange not being released. However I think it's extremely important to keep our eyes on the Assange situation and ensure that one of the greatest men of our time isn't locked away for the rest of his life.

It is now looking like he'll be extradited to face charges concerning the Chelsea Manning leak. It truly saddens me that we live in a world where those who seek to shine light on crimes and corruption are the ones treated like criminals. As an Australian it also disgusts me that our government has done virtually nothing to support him, in fact we've done the opposite. On the bright side, Trump does seem to have a soft spot for Wikileaks which he made clear in his election campaign.

Trump has backpedaled somewhat on his support for Wikileaks but that isn't really unexpected considering the attempts to link Assange and Wikileaks to Russian collusion plots. However I think Trump still likes Wikileaks and Assange even if he wont admit it anymore, and there's a chance that being extradited might not turn out to be the worste possible thing for Assange. I don't really think it could be much worse than staying in the hands of the corrupt UK legal system.

In recent years our legal system has been polluted/corrupted.
The man has served the sentence handed down in court and now he's kept in prison beyond his sentence because he might abscond to avoid an extradition that has not yet been agreed - or maybe this is to do with the case in Sweden??/ Either way, I find it strange that judges should be jailing people who have not been convicted.

originally posted by: UKTruth

The man has served the sentence handed down in court and now he's kept in prison beyond his sentence because he might abscond to avoid an extradition that has not yet been agreed - or maybe this is to do with the case in Sweden??

The article says Assange will be facing an extradition hearing at the start of next year, the case in Sweden is closed from what I understand. It seems they are determined to have him extradited to the U.S. so we can only hope he gets treated fairly in the U.S. or Trump does something to help him.

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

The decision by the judge to keep Julian locked up gave me yet another reason to be disgusted by my country , as I posted in the Tommy Robinson thread it's a sad state of affairs when we accuse and criticise other countries for arbitrarily detaining people while doing it ourselves.

People on bail have to adhere to conditions imposed by the court like staying at a particular residence and reporting to local police at certain times , Julian Assange has no way to leave this island and to my mind is now , following the judgement , a political prisoner.


As a leaker of classified information himself Trump should help out a brother and drop the extradition claim.

originally posted by: gortex
The decision by the judge to keep Julian locked up gave me yet another reason to be disgusted by my country ,

Why? Assange has a track record of absconding to avoid and frustrate the due process of law. This measure is within the scope of the law. He just has not been released early from his current conviction.

There is no guarantee he'll be extradited to the US, but he should not be allowed to avoid the process around the extradition.

a reply to: paraphi

Please list this long track record. From what I remember the only thing he's done is seek political asylum in Ecuador.

a reply to: paraphi

He didn't abscond he sought refuge from the inevitable US extradition claim , the courts knew exactly where he was for the past 7 years just as they would if he were detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
Please list this long track record. From what I remember the only thing he's done is seek political asylum in Ecuador

Um. Assange escaped rape charges in Sweden, thus avoided the due process of law. He then tried to avoid legal process in England over his bail charge, which was dismissed, but he remained in the Ecuadorian Embassy, thus frustrating the due process law.

I think that's a record of trying to get away with it, and indeed succeeding in the case of the Swedish allegations.

His record is to avoid legal process by whatever means. With a record like that it's appropriate to keep him in prison. He is still running with his current sentence. It's similar to being remanded in custody. This situation is not unusual, even in extradition cases. For example Nirav Modi is awaiting an extradition hearing (to India) and is in custody.

I personally was more offended by the Collateral damage video , than them ( wikileaks ) leaking stuff.

It was just plain murder full auto grenades into a group , without trail , sentencing ,all because one carried someting that looked like a rpg.

Then some guy comes along in a van with kids in it trying to help the victims , unaware they would too be filled with grenade rounds.

You never here people mention this , naah its Death sentence manning this , firing squad assange this.

They murdering innocent people and ya worried about some ppl have their cover blown through some cables , who knew exactly what they signed up for and knew the risks.

a reply to: TheGreazel

Wikileaks released the Collateral damage video in 2010 , it opened the eyes of the world to what was really going on in Iraq and put Julian firmly in the sights of the US revenge machine.

a reply to: paraphi

Um. Assange escaped rape charges in Sweden, thus avoided the due process of law. He then tried to avoid legal process in England over his bail charge, which was dismissed, but he remained in the Ecuadorian Embassy, thus frustrating the due process law.

You've still only given one example, they are both the same thing. Assange said he would accept extradition to Sweden if they guaranteed he wouldn't be further extradited to the U.S. but they wouldn't give him that assurance so he remained in the embassy. I do agree though, he probably would try to run, but I mean who in his position wouldn't run when they're being hunted down by the most vile people on this planet.

Julian Assange has spent his life exposing corruption and it shows by just how easy it is getting for him to expose more of it. He just has to sit there and not do a thing a these days for even more corruption to be exposed.

I am also disgusted by our governments lack of action and further condemnation of the sacrifice Julian has made in defense of reality. Unfortunately I am not surprised. This is such a messed up world when talking about is crime is treated more harshly than committing that crime. The embarrassment and backlash that is raised is a clear indication of the evil that exists.

a reply to: paraphi

Let me see your behavior when you get accused of "rape" and a witch hunt is started, while you know you did not rape anyone.

Yes I lean myself out of the window here but looking at the "records" of those women, my impression is this was a setup.

It is a open secret.

Not sure how anyone on ATS could still support trump if he doesn't try to help Assange out after constantly praising him for helping expose hillary.

Will Trump let assange rot and be a hypocrite?

a reply to: blueman12
Ah you mean like Obama spoke out for Assange...

oh wait...

originally posted by: Oleandra88
Let me see your behavior when you get accused of "rape" and a witch hunt is started, while you know you did not rape anyone.

We don't know whether the rape accusations were legitimate, or not. As we know, celebrities are not immune from sexual deviancy and rape. Without a legal process to ascertain truth we will never know. Anyway, I think we have discussed this one before?

He managed to avoid the rape charges. Assange is now in for extradition and there is no guarantee he will end up being extradited to the US, but a legal process must take place. We'll all have the opportunity to see the court papers in due course.

originally posted by: blueman12
Not sure how anyone on ATS could still support trump if he doesn't try to help Assange out after constantly praising him for helping expose hillary.

Will Trump let assange rot and be a hypocrite?

That's the last reason to stop supporting Trump. I believe the country has more important things to deal with. Trump could pardon Assange in his second term but for now, Trump has bigger priorities like the southern border and figuring out how to get things done with Democrats blocking every move.

a reply to: paraphi

You snipped out the important sentence in my post that says this:

Yes I lean myself out of the window here but looking at the "records" of those women, my impression is this was a setup.

Where I explicitly say that I lean myself out of the window here to make my point clear. Also being a women I am a bit sensitive when it comes to this topic. Not in the kind of, favoring us, but knowing how some fellow women think and act, I am absolutely for punishing a made up crime, with the charge the defendant would face but double.

So the rape charges were nullified...Go look why..

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

If Assange were to abscond, he would quickly be "Epsteined".

a reply to: Oleandra88

What???