The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty of justice

Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by lmilcin on Sunday July 25, 2021 @06:21PM (#27953483)

Would you like me to find a link where US Government officially admits to pressuring foreign countries and abusing justice system to prevent people from publishing materials showing US Government wrongdoing?

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by 2OEH8eoCRo0 on Sunday July 25, 2021 @06:28PM (#27953541)

Unlikely but that doesn't make your claim true.

Tangentially- what do you think about whistleblower protections where you are protected by law for reporting govt wrongdoing?

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by salawat on Sunday July 25, 2021 @06:57PM (#27953723)

Those are all fine and good when you're an employee. When you're not affiliated directly with the United States at all, and we're a means to an end though is where the consternation comes in, and where the U.S. really gave themselves a black eye with Assange.

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by 2OEH8eoCRo0 on Monday July 26, 2021 @04:23PM (#27964945)

I was getting at the fact that these two things don't square. The US govt provides whistle blower protection but the parent also claims the US abuses the justice system to:

>prevent people from publishing materials showing US Government wrongdoing?

So the US govt provides whistle blower protections but it is also abusing the justice dept? The govt publishes materials all the time that makes it look bad:

https://www.gao.gov/

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by detaro on Monday July 26, 2021 @04:36PM (#27965110)

Whistleblower protections, where they exist, a) don't guarantee that they are applied fairly, b) tend to come with all kinds of "did you do the proper process" restrictions and c) apply to specific groups of people (i.e. people speaking about things they legitimately become aware of due to their work). It very easily squares that whistleblower protections exist and at the same time they want to limit their use and come down hard on anyone falling outside of them. (Some details on how it works in US national security: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_protection_in_th... note fun parts like "needs to escalate internally" while at the same time "internal retaliation isn't forbidden and can't be sued against")

People like Assange aren't whistleblowers, so those protections don't apply to them.

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by 2OEH8eoCRo0 on Monday July 26, 2021 @04:40PM (#27965158)

I didn't say Assange could take advantage of whistle blower protections. Just that it's weird that the govt provides whistle blower protections at the same time that it "abuses the justice system to stop the publication of embarrassing information"

The US Govt publishes embarrassing information almost daily. The issue is more complicated than this forum leads on but its clear to me which side of the issue you all fall on judging by all my downvotes.

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by detaro on Monday July 26, 2021 @04:42PM (#27965192)

Then ignore that line, the rest is nevertheless relevant.

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by lmilcin on Sunday July 25, 2021 @06:39PM (#27953620)

They are as good as separation between judicial and executive branches.

When your judicial branch does what executive wants then there is no protection

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by MichaelMoser123 on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:11AM (#27955568)

here is an article in German with Nils Melzer, who was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, and who was fired for his assessment of the confinement of Assange as torture. He is also stating that the whole case is about setting a deterring example. (also posted this link here, in another thread)

https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wochenende/interview-un-sond...

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by boomboomsubban on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:18AM (#27955616)

If Assange is found guilty on most charges, it will effectively work as case law banning the publication of classified documents. The indictment alone shows this is part of their goal.

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by magpi3 on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:14AM (#27955585)

https://www.prisonerresource.com/prison-reform/the-purpose-o...

As per the article, prison has three functions: punish, deter, and reform the prisoner. In regards to the deter function: any attempt to imprison a person can be viewed as an attempt to "ruin them" (through loss of freedom and through the scarlet letter of a felony conviction) in order to "scare... people from running similar actions."

The question in this case is: why is the U.S. trying so hard to extradite Assange? If it is because they don't want a repeat of wikileaks, then the grandparent statement is very reasonable. And I suppose another reference would be the U.S. relationship with whistleblowers. I don't have the energy to do the research myself, but I too have heard they come down on whistleblowers like a ton of bricks. But maybe someone else can supply that reference.

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by guilhas on Sunday July 25, 2021 @06:23PM (#27953502)

Every link pointing to the story of any USA whistleblower

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Re:The Assange case is collapsing but it remains a travesty ... by 2OEH8eoCRo0 on Sunday July 25, 2021 @06:35PM (#27953588)

Nope.

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