Assange got out.

[Absnt]

Quote:http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec...ed-on-bail

With a smile and a short statement of quiet defiance, Julian Assange tonight walked free from custody and into the kind of media scrum more commonly seen after a decades-long prison sentence, rather than nine days on remand.

This was the third hearing in as many weeks relating to the WikiLeaks founder's bail application over sex assault charges against two Swedish women, for which his extradition is being sought, and is unlikely to be the last before the allegations, which he denies, are resolved.

But with the global storm over the website's leaks and a gathering campaign of online protest against what is seen by some of his supporters as a politically motivated process, this was never going to be a mere procedural hearing.

Journalists from around the world – the US, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands – queued from before dawn to secure a seat in court, while a pyramid of photographers and TV crews teetered precariously at the entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, in anticipation of the Australian, at some point, walking out of its imposing front doors on to the Strand.

At 6pm, more than five hours after being told that, with conditions, he was indeed free to leave, he did so, and walked out into a battery of flashing lights.

Though in court he had seemed weary, leaning his head against the mahogany wall of the dock as the appeal was heard, Assange had found new energy when he was finally let out of the court's cells, thanking "all the people around the world who have had faith in me", those members of the press "who are not all taken in", and "the British justice system itself, where, if justice is not always an outcome, at least it is not dead yet".

He had had plentiful opportunity, "during my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a Victorian prison", to reflect on the conditions of those around the world who are also held in solitary confinement, he said, and would continue "to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, as we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations".

Sweden is seeking Assange's extradition over allegations of rape, molestation and unlawful coercion, made by two women during a period of 10 days in August. One of the women, Miss A, says she was victim of "unlawful coercion" and "sexual molestation", alleging that Assange had sex with her without a condom when it was her "express wish" one should be used.

The second woman, Miss W, accuses him of having sex with her on 17 August without a condom while she was asleep at her Stockholm home.

Assange admits having consensual sex with both women but denies any criminal wrongdoing.

On 7 December he voluntarily attended a police station in London where he was arrested and, later, denied bail, being remanded to Wandsworth prison in south London. A senior district judge at Westminster magistrates court last week granted conditional bail, a decision which was immediately appealed, meaning he remained in custody until yesterday.

However, having overcome the efforts of Swedish and British prosecutors to keep him in prison until his extradition hearings, expected early next year, the Australian was nearly undone by logistics. Having attracted a formidable army of high-profile backers, among them the celebrity campaigner Jemima Khan and the Oscar-winning film-maker Michael Moore, Assange's team had submitted a list of possible backers willing to offer surety and attest to the fact that the Australian would not attempt to flee.

But Mr Justice Ouseley, head of the administrative court, is not a man easily swayed by celebrity, expressing his concerns that "many of those who are offering themselves as sureties are doing so because they are supporters of [Assange's] activities with WikiLeaks", rather than being in any position to attest to his character and the likelihood of his absconding.

Having heard submissions from the crown that Assange, as a "nomadic" person, was unsuitable for bail, he dismissed the campaigning journalist John Pilger as "another peripatetic Australian".

Unfortunately, not all those he deemed acceptable to stand surety – the Australian journalist Philip Knightley, the publisher Felix Dennis, the Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston, the former Labour minister Lord Evans and Professor Patricia David, a retired professor of education – appear to have expected to get the nod. There was, accordingly, a tense few hours while the five were frantically tracked down at locations across the country and persuaded to present themselves in court or at a designated police station to complete the paperwork. An additional pressure was the requirement that Assange reach his bail address by 10pm, his curfew time, otherwise he would be in breach of his bail conditions.

That address, after his Victorian cell, may come as a pleasant shock. The WikiLeaks founder will now endure the hardship of a Georgian country house on the Norfolk-Suffolk borders, Ellingham Hall, a property so grand that its sheer scale was raised as an objection in court by the crown, who argued that electronic equipment would be unable to monitor Assange across the "vast" extent of the estate. (It was suggested by his lawyer that the Australian would willingly restrict himself to "the manor house").

There he will be the guest of Vaughan Smith, a former army captain and the founder of the Frontline Club, a members' club for journalists in London, where Assange had previously stayed.

Last night Smith told the Guardian his friend would be treated to a celebratory dinner of "stew and dumplings" and joked that there was no prospect Assange could escape. "He's not very good at reading maps. He's topographically awful. If he runs off into the woods I will find him," he said.

Assange, Smith stressed, was in no sense a fugitive and was merely staying at his country estate as a regular guest. "We are not harbouring him. That much is very clear."

Others, however, were not in joking mood: Pilger said the biggest threat to Assange's liberty was the US government, which he called "the great unspoken in this case. "It is a spectre of which we are all aware that he might end up in a high-security prison in the US."

Assange's WikiLeaks colleague Kristinn Hrafnsson last night said the website would continue its activities, with Assange once again at the helm, from Ellingham Hall. "We have a fairly decent internet connection there. We will keep on operating as we have done before."

There's a video on the link above of Assange getting out and giving a short speech.

This is some decent news. Hopefully he won't be picked up by the U.S gov. before he has to deal with these sexual assault charges again next year.

[aaaaaaasd]

The one thing i've noticed about assange is that he looks fucking smug in every photo there is of him

[Faby]

Also, this happened several days ago.

[HeartofShadows]

ProfessorVonStrangle Wrote:The one thing i've noticed about assange is that he looks fucking smug in every photo there is of him

Well he essentially trolled the world so yeah he be wearing his troll face.

[Absnt]

They guy is on house arrest... IN A FUCKING MANSION.

Just sayin.

[AWOL]

He should be smug, he runs one of the world's most controversial and helpful websites, and just got out of jail on rape charges.


But seriously, she wanted him to wear a condom? Who wouldn't want Assange's babies?

[Rebelnerd]

Also, the woman who accused him was involved with a militant anti-Castro group that had ties to the CIA. Also also, they happened to choose this particular case of condom-breakage to turn into an international incident and send every cop in Europe after him.

What an AMAZING coincidence.

[AWOL]

Rebelnerd Wrote:Also, the woman who accused him was involved with a militant anti-Castro group that had ties to the CIA. Also also, they happened to choose this particular case of condom-breakage to turn into an international incident and send every cop in Europe after him.

What an AMAZING coincidence.

I thought it was lack of usage, not breakage... And even then, they have no proof.

[HeartofShadows]

Rebelnerd Wrote:Also, the woman who accused him was involved with a militant anti-Castro group that had ties to the CIA. Also also, they happened to choose this particular case of condom-breakage to turn into an international incident and send every cop in Europe after him.

What an AMAZING coincidence.

Rebelnerd why do you always withhold fascinating info like this til the last second?

[The Desert Fox]

Rebelnerd Wrote:Also, the woman who accused him was involved with a militant anti-Castro group that had ties to the CIA. Also also, they happened to choose this particular case of condom-breakage to turn into an international incident and send every cop in Europe after him.

What an AMAZING coincidence.

Not to mention how "convenient" of a time the charges come at for the authorities.

[Rebelnerd]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assan...-cia-ties/

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/39394/ju...o-the-cia/

Membership in the International Socialist Organization has its perks. As awkward as it is being the only anarchist in a room full of pissed-off Reds, I do get to hear about stuff the corporate media doesn't like to acknowledge. And even if their news sources are biased, it's a good source of leads to track down a more complete picture of what's going on.

[HeartofShadows]

Rebelnerd Wrote:http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assan...-cia-ties/

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/39394/ju...o-the-cia/

Membership in the International Socialist Organization has its perks. As awkward as it is being the only anarchist in a room full of pissed-off Reds, I do get to hear about stuff the corporate media doesn't like to acknowledge. And even if their news sources are biased, it's a good source of leads to track down a more complete picture of what's going on.

Thanks alot.

Sounds like it'll be worth the read(favorites).