Julian Assange's drama: in the third act, we still don't know what the story is

[struggle4progress]

Is the US really trying to extradite him? Or has he bought into his own hype? A former WikiLeaks staffer parses the latest
James Ball
Wednesday 20 June 2012 14.06 EDT

... The first possibility is political thriller: Assange is right, his critics wrong. The US is indeed trying to extradite Assange via Sweden, using a method which avoids due process and involves political interference.

There's been no evidence to support this theory, despite it being the basis of Assange's bid for asylum, but it would be a problematic one for the US: a backdoor extradition would bring a lot of disillusioned WikiLeaks supporters back into the fold, likely prompt a (grudging) defence of Assange from the New York Times and others, and give Obama serious first amendment and human rights challenges in an election year ...

The second option is Greek tragedy: a world in which Assange has spent so long conflating allegations centred around his private life on a few days in Sweden with WikiLeaks' wider battles he's come to believe his own spin ...

The third is soap opera: time and again during his Swedish sex case, Assange has escalated the situation – refusing to take an STD test, leading to the prosecution. Leaving the country and refusing to attend a face-to-face interview (offering only Skype or through the embassy), leading to extradition ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/20/julian-assange-drama-third-act?newsfeed=true

[dipsydoodle]

1. Assuming any likely US charges to be ones which carried the death penalty

the he cannot be extradited there from any EU country.

[struggle4progress]

2. Not exactly: something like the EU-USA extradition treaty might govern

Article 3
Scope of application of this Agreement in relation to bilateral extradition treaties with Member States
1. ... (j) Article 13 may be applied by the requested State in place of, or in the absence of, bilateral treaty provisions governing capital punishment; ...

Article 13
Capital punishment
Where the offence for which extradition is sought is punishable by death under the laws in the requesting State and not punishable by death under the laws in the requested State, the requested State may grant extradition on the condition that the death penalty shall not be imposed on the person sought, or if for procedural reasons such condition cannot be complied with by the requesting State, on condition that the death penalty if imposed shall not be carried out. If the requesting State accepts extradition subject to conditions pursuant to this Article, it shall comply with the conditions. If the requesting State does not accept the conditions, the request for extradition may be denied ...

AGREEMENT
on extradition between the European Union and the United States of America
19.7.2003
EN Official Journal of the European Union
L 181/27
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:181:0027:0033:EN: PDF
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