<story><title>UK threaten to enter Ecuadorian embassy and arrest Julian Assange</title><url>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19259623</url><text></text></story><parent_chain><item><author>guelo</author><text>Since 9/11 the USA has shown that it does not follow the civil rules of law for non-citizens. Obama&apos;s DOJ has convened a secret grand jury investigating Assange under the Espionage Act[1]. Joe Biden has called him a terrorist [2]. Others have called for his assassination [3]. Sweden was involved in the CIA&apos;s illegal rendition program and sent people to be tortured in Egypt[4]. Assange has every reason to fear for his life.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905973.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/19/assange-high-tech-terrorist-biden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/19/assange-high-tec...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/t/assange-lawyer-condemns-calls-assassination-wikileaks-founder/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-b...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>tokenadult</author><text>How rapidly people forget their history. Britain has a specific law on the subject because of an incident that occurred in Britain within my memory, a shooting of a police officer from within the grounds of the Libyan embassy.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;No, harboring Julian Assange is not just like shooting at police officers outside the embassy, but preventing the host country from continuing to follow the steps of its agreements about accused defendants with another country is also not the normal activity of a diplomatic representative. There is a long tradition of dissidents seeking asylum in foreign embassies, and that tradition seems to be longest in Latin America, but that can also have consequences for the embassy&apos;s relationship with the host country.&lt;p&gt;AFTER EDIT:&lt;p&gt;By the way, it has been a very, very long time (since before I was born) since the United States federal government has imposed capital punishment for the crimes of treason or espionage (which, yes, could be a basis for capital punishment under federal law).&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_federal_government#Earlier_civilian_executions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_Unite...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm00076.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/tit...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, it is routine for persons who revealed secret information to the harm of the United States to be imprisoned, sometimes for a term of years rather than for life.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_spies#Americans_convicted_of_spying_for_foreign_countries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_spies#American...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, even IF Julian Assange were to have to leave Sweden after going from Britain to Sweden for questioning, and even IF Julian Assange were then charged with espionage by the United States, and even IF he were then convicted of espionage, it is quite doubtful that Assange would be executed. Most likely, he would just (if ALL of the hypothetical events happened) end up spending a lot of time in the Supermax prison in Colorado.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Penitentiary,_Florence_ADX#Inmate_population&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Penitentiary,_Flo...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>turar</author><text>&amp;#62; Since 9/11 the USA has shown that it does not follow the civil rules of law for non-citizens.&lt;p&gt;Citizens too.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Derwish&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Derwish&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Aulaqi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Aulaqi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul-Rahman_al-Awlaki&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul-Rahman_al-Awlaki&lt;/a&gt; (16 y.o. minor US citizen)&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Khan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Khan&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>UK threaten to enter Ecuadorian embassy and arrest Julian Assange</title><url>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19259623</url><text></text></story><parent_chain><item><author>guelo</author><text>Since 9/11 the USA has shown that it does not follow the civil rules of law for non-citizens. Obama&apos;s DOJ has convened a secret grand jury investigating Assange under the Espionage Act[1]. Joe Biden has called him a terrorist [2]. Others have called for his assassination [3]. Sweden was involved in the CIA&apos;s illegal rendition program and sent people to be tortured in Egypt[4]. Assange has every reason to fear for his life.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905973.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/19/assange-high-tech-terrorist-biden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/19/assange-high-tec...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/t/assange-lawyer-condemns-calls-assassination-wikileaks-founder/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-b...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>tokenadult</author><text>How rapidly people forget their history. Britain has a specific law on the subject because of an incident that occurred in Britain within my memory, a shooting of a police officer from within the grounds of the Libyan embassy.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;No, harboring Julian Assange is not just like shooting at police officers outside the embassy, but preventing the host country from continuing to follow the steps of its agreements about accused defendants with another country is also not the normal activity of a diplomatic representative. There is a long tradition of dissidents seeking asylum in foreign embassies, and that tradition seems to be longest in Latin America, but that can also have consequences for the embassy&apos;s relationship with the host country.&lt;p&gt;AFTER EDIT:&lt;p&gt;By the way, it has been a very, very long time (since before I was born) since the United States federal government has imposed capital punishment for the crimes of treason or espionage (which, yes, could be a basis for capital punishment under federal law).&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_federal_government#Earlier_civilian_executions&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_Unite...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm00076.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/tit...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nowadays, it is routine for persons who revealed secret information to the harm of the United States to be imprisoned, sometimes for a term of years rather than for life.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_spies#Americans_convicted_of_spying_for_foreign_countries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_spies#American...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Simply put, even IF Julian Assange were to have to leave Sweden after going from Britain to Sweden for questioning, and even IF Julian Assange were then charged with espionage by the United States, and even IF he were then convicted of espionage, it is quite doubtful that Assange would be executed. Most likely, he would just (if ALL of the hypothetical events happened) end up spending a lot of time in the Supermax prison in Colorado.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Penitentiary,_Florence_ADX#Inmate_population&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Penitentiary,_Flo...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>GHFigs</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Obama&apos;s DOJ has convened a secret grand jury investigating Assange under the Espionage Act.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;All grand jury proceedings are secret. This is a normal part of the US legal system.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_juries_in_the_United_States&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_juries_in_the_United_Stat...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>