Yes, that's our Julian Assange update theme, in honor of the whitest-skinned person to ever come from Australia.
He's in the news today because the UK Home Office has affirmed the U.S. extradition order that was upheld by the UK High Court in December.
Assange has spent the last three years fighting extradition from Belmarsh Prison, where the UK authorities put him due to his habit of skipping bail. Before that he spent seven years in the embassy of Ecuador hiding from Swedish authorities who wanted to investgate him on complaints of rape and sexual assault.
Now, he has 14 days to appeal the Home Office decision, which of course he will. Depending on how that goes, he'll next appeal to a European human rights court.
How much longer can he possibly delay his delivery to American justice? Almost indefinitely, I think. At least, he seems in no hurry to leave his life behind the walls, having spent the last ten of his fifty years in what is basically self-imposed confinement.
Assange is an Australian citizen, improbable as that might seem given his extreme pallor, and he seems to have a supporter in his Foreign Office. As CNN reports:
On Friday, Australia's Foreign Office issued a statement noting the UK decision to extradite Assange, who is an Australian citizen, adding: "We will continue to convey our expectations that Mr Assange is entitled to due process, humane and fair treatment, access to proper medical care, and access to his legal team."Of course, he can get all that stuff in a U.S. prison. And due process? Assange has gotten exremely undue process, if you ask me. I mean, he's spent ten years fighting a reckoning in a U.S. court that would likely result in a sentence of far less than that. Besides which, he would be able to do that time in an Australian prison thanks to a bilateral agreement.
What the hell, Assange? Would you rather spend the next ten years in Belmarsh than face the music in a U.S. court and get it over with?
4 comments:
The "Sennacherib" is very confused. It was thought that Procol Haram was a West African terrorist group!
"Haram", why didn't I see that before? There is so much more to that group than I'd assumed. What's their back story?
The "Sennacherib" realizing they are British assumes they drive on the wrong side of the road!
Wrong-side driving, room temperature beer, there is much foreign stuff going on there.
Although on the driving, I must say I enjoyed being able to use my left hand to shift gears when doing a road trip there in a stick shift car.
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