It may make it easier for UK and US liberals to swallow the extradition of Assange if it's slathered in "sex-crime" rather than "bail-jumping" dressing. But whatever pretext it's done behind, that's the endgame for the UK and Sweden. Either you accept that's the case, as Assange and his legal team have been saying for years, or, in the face of the irrefutable fact of the American extradition request, you continue to deny it. Really, does anyone--does Jeremy Corbyn or a single one of the signatories of that British letter--think the USG/Trump administration would not demand extradition from Sweden? Or that Sweden would not comply? What mental gymnastics does it take to make the inevitability of that disappear from your mind? "Let's pretend!"
This is a desperate attempt by Assange-haters who want to maintain some leftist credibility to revive a specious smear that is irrefutably belied by the reality of the American indictment and extradition demand: that Assange sought Asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in order to "flee" sexual allegations, to "escape Swedish Justice."
I will not attempt to judge the allegations that were made against Assange in Sweden. The specifics of those allegations, which have undergone a number of permutations, and the peculiarities of Swedish law, which can be misleading to Americans, make for a rat's nest of sexual and political complications. The more you look into it, the more you are struck by how banal, confused, and sad the incidents in question are.
I share the opinion of Katrin Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape that "the pursuit of Assange is political" and "the allegations against him are a smokescreen behind which a number of governments are trying to clamp down on WikiLeaks for having audaciously revealed to the public their secret planning of wars and occupations with their attendant rape, murder and destruction." You can find comprehensive accounts that will help you make up your mind here, here, here, here, here, here.
I'll point out three crucial things to know in the present context, which are usually presented in deceptively fallacious ways.
First, of all, Assange is not, and never was, charged with a crime in Sweden. No decision to prosecute him was ever taken. The British letter itself recognizes this, speaking of the hope that "'the formal investigation' can be concluded and, if appropriate, a charge can be made." It was, in the prosecutor's language, a "preliminary investigation." Assange was wanted for questioning, and the Swedish government demanded his apprehension and extradition for that purpose, not to bring him to trial.
Second, Julian Assange was always available for questioning by Swedish prosecutors. He appeared voluntarily for questioning in Sweden, after which he was told he was free to leave the country. He and his lawyers always said he was available for questioning by Swedish prosecutors in London, via satellite (options that were standard practice), or in Sweden, if Sweden would assure him that he would not be extradited to the U.S. It was the British Crown Protection Service (CPS) that dissuaded the Swedes from coming to London to question Assange early on, in 2010 and 2011. And, when "Swedish authorities were eager to give up the case" and "drop extradition proceedings" in 2012-13, it was the British who pressured them to keep it going, with a CPS lawyer exclaiming: --Don't you dare get cold feet!!!"
Third, the Swedish prosecutor did interview Assange about the last remaining allegation in 2016 in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, without any extradition, as she always could have. (The investigation into other allegations was dropped in 2015.) Assange submitted to the Swedish prosecutor's insistence that the questioning take place without his lawyer present. After that questioning the investigation was dropped. No criminal charges were filed; no decision to prosecute him was ever made.
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