Ecuador: Enough UK guarantees for Assange to leave embassy

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s president says Britain has provided sufficient guarantees for Julian Assange to leave his government’s embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been living under asylum since 2012.

Lenin Moreno said in a radio interview Thursday said his government had received written assurances from the U.K. government not to extradite the Australian activist to any country where he would face the death penalty.

Ecuador: Enough UK guarantees for Assange to leave embassy

Looks like things just took a turn for the worse for Assange. As long as the US promises not to execute him then I can see a trans Atlantic flight coming his way in the near future.

a reply to: RexKramerPRT

What can he be charged with here?

He's not a US citizen, and these crimes weren't committed in the US.

Further more, he should be protected by the umbrella of journalism. As long as he didn't personally steal the information and had it given to him.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

No idea what he may be charged with. You'd have to ask him that given he has spent years in there fearing extradition to the US. And, IMO, he isn't a journalist.

a reply to: RexKramerPRT

Looks like things just took a turn for the worse for Assange.

I'd say a turn for the better , for the sake of Julian's health this stalemate has got to end soon , he was offered refuge by Ecuador now he should repay that kindness and leave.

originally posted by: RexKramerPRT
a reply to: CriticalStinker
And, IMO, he isn't a journalist.

By definition he quite literally is.

Just because you don't like what comes from them, as long as they are disseminating facts, it's journalism.

I know it's a lot different than entertainment news that read like opinion pieces, packed with buzz words, but putting out facts is journalism.

Maybe it's cut and dry, and maybe even admittedly biased in nature on what they like to release.

But if you don't argue the f actuality of it, than why isn't it journalism?

They will deliver him to Bill and Hillary. So they can eat him. Literally.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Does he write actual articles or just pass on leaked info? Do any other recognised journalists work for Wikileaks? Are Wikileaks/Assange recognised by any trade/union bodies?

a reply to: RexKramerPRT

For a start he'll be charged for skipping bail in the UK , it remains to be seen how or if the US will have him extradited , but I suspect they will.

originally posted by: RexKramerPRT
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Does he write actual articles or just pass on leaked info? Do any other recognised journalists work for Wikileaks? Are Wikileaks/Assange recognised by any trade/union bodies?

Are those the parameters that you have to fall under to be considered a journalist?

What's the difference between passing on unadulterated facts and compiling information into an article?

I'm not aware of any recognized journalists working for Wikileaks by your standards, but scores of journalists have used the information for articles.

They're not part of the establishment class of media, but they have released lots of material and information we wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

For better or worse, and I think it's better, we got that information and we have more knowledge for it.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Disseminating the truth for one thing, or at least a version of such.

I mean they are going to Bradley Manning the guy at the very least.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

What's the difference between passing on unadulterated facts and compiling information into an article?

Being a journalist.

I'm not aware of any recognized journalists working for Wikileaks by your standards, but scores of journalists have used the information for articles.

So he is a one man band with a Twitter account. Has he had any work published elsewhere that he is credited for?

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Disseminating the truth for one thing, or at least a version of such.

I mean they are going to Bradley Manning the guy at the very least.

I fear accountability of the government in the US at least is becoming a crackpot dream.

People celebrate when whistle-blowers are chased after with the espionage act and imprisoned. Journalists are having their communications tapped to discover their sources if they don't give them up. The amount of information classified under the veil of national security sky rocketing, some of which is just to protect corporations who have lobbyists saying that if that information was available to the public it could hurt their business.

Snowden, Assange, Manning, Winner, all demonized and criminalized for telling the inconvenient truth.

People aren't just allowing the government to reign in the age of ignorance for the masses it, they're welcoming it with open arms.

a reply to: RexKramerPRT

That's such a hollow "victory", because the UK would never extradite a person where they would face the death penalty. I am assuming the angle here is the extradition to the USA. It's always been a well propagated untruth/myth that Assange would be put to death the minute he entered the US.

Look to the UK legislation on this...

UK legislation on extradition

94 Death penalty
(1)The Secretary of State must not order a person’s extradition to a category 2 territory if he could be, will be or has been sentenced to death for the offence concerned in the category 2 territory.
(2)Subsection (1) does not apply if the Secretary of State receives a written assurance which he considers adequate that a sentence of death— (a)will not be imposed, or (b)will not be carried out (if imposed).

The UK has already received "exchange of letters" from the US...

US letters opens in PDF

But assuming Assange will still be arrested when (if) he leaves the Ecuadorean embassy for his criminal offence of skipping bail.

originally posted by: RexKramerPRT
a reply to: CriticalStinker

What's the difference between passing on unadulterated facts and compiling information into an article?

Being a journalist.

I'm not aware of any recognized journalists working for Wikileaks by your standards, but scores of journalists have used the information for articles.

So he is a one man band with a Twitter account. Has he had any work published elsewhere that he is credited for?

WikiLeaks has received praise as well as criticism. The organisation won a number of awards in its early years, including The Economist's New Media Award in 2008 at the Index on Censorship Awards[337] and Amnesty International's UK Media Award in 2009.[338][339] In 2010, the New York Daily News listed WikiLeaks first among websites "that could totally change the news,"[340] and Julian Assange received the Sam Adams Award[341] and was named the Readers' Choice for TIME's Person of the Year in 2010.[342] The UK Information Commissioner has stated that "WikiLeaks is part of the phenomenon of the online, empowered citizen."[343] During its first days, an Internet petition in support of WikiLeaks attracted more than six hundred thousand signatures.[344]

link

Last I checked, their accuracy and validity of information released is 100%. Say that for any news agency.

It's 2018, most people would agree there is a problem that a vast majority of news outlets are conglomerated into 6 corporate entities.

By all means, if you want to set the bar for journalism being that you have to work for one of those six giants, be my guest. That's an opinion, and through semantics you could defend it.

But with the advent of the internet, if you're a capitalist minded person, small entities providing competition to set the bar for what is journalism should be welcomed to the industry.

Again, scores of "journalists" have used Wikileaks information to create award winning stories that we would not have gotten had they not passed it off.

originally posted by: RexKramerPRT
"...written assurances from the U.K. government not to extradite the Australian activist to any country where he would face the death penalty."

Was this really new information, I wonder? Or had this policy always been the case, if anyone had thought to ask?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Such is the price you pay for the illusion of freedom and security.

Same in my own nation.

a reply to: andy06shake

They will just extradite him to Sweden and they will pass him on.

Dp

a reply to: midicon

If that's the case let Sweden do there own dirty work i imagine.

Probably want to debrief or interrogate him first before passing him along the system.

Once they have him they can pretty much do as they please, i mean it works for the Saudis.

a reply to: midicon

As far as I'm aware Sweden dropped their extradition claim earlier this year so the US will have to ask the UK to extradite him when he's arrested for skipping bail.