Arrested WikiLeaks chief denied bail in U.K. - Polidicks

[quote] LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was refused bail and jailed for a week by a British court Tuesday, pending an extradition hearing over alleged sex offenses in Sweden. Assange surrendered to U.K. police earlier in the day in the latest blow to his WikiLeaks organization, which faces legal, financial and technological challenges after releasing hundreds of secret U.S. diplomatic cables. Swedish prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant for the 39-year-old Australian, who is accused of sexual misconduct with two different women. Assange surrendered at 9:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday. [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/dec/07/wikileaks-us-embassy-cables-live-updates"]The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper[/URL] reported that Assange later arrived at a London court accompanied by British lawyers Mark Stephens and Jennifer Robinson. During his court appearance, Assange said he would fight extradition to Sweden and he provided the court with an Australian address. Britain's Sky News reported that Assange was receiving consular assistance from officials at the Australian High Commission. The next court hearing is scheduled to take place December 14, and Assange will remain in custody until then because he was deemed to be a flight risk. Judge Howard Riddle told Assange that he had "substantial grounds" to believe he wouldn't turn up for subsequent proceedings. English socialite Jemima Khan offered in court to stand as surety for Assange if he was released, [URL="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iLBCkkC5l0NVV0gEYkAA04x83Wrg?docId=B32488671291733403A00"]the U.K. Press Association reported[/URL]. Gemma Lindfield, acting for Swedish authorities, laid out the four allegations against Assange in court. According to the Press Association report, they were as follows: [LIST] [*]The first complainant, Miss A, was alleged to be victim of "unlawful coercion" on the night of Aug. 14 in Stockholm. Assange was accused of using his body weight to hold her down in a sexual manner. [*]Assange was accused of having "sexually molested" Miss A by having sex without a condom despite her "express wish" that one should be used. [*]He was also alleged to have "deliberately molested" Miss A on Aug. 18 "in a way designed to violate her sexual integrity." [*]Assange had sex with the second complainant, Miss W, on Aug. 17 without a condom while she was asleep at her Stockholm home. [/LIST] In response to the decision to refuse bail, WikiLeaks tweeted: "Let down by the UK justice system's bizarre decision to refuse bail to Julian Assange. But #cablegatereleases continue as planned." [B]'Go viral' [/B]Speaking after the hearing, Stephens said it had been difficult to mount an argument for bail because he had not been able to see any of the evidence against Assange. He said "many people believe this prosecution is politically motivated," but added that he was "sure the British judicial system is robust enough not to be interfered with by politicians." He said he hoped he would be able to say the same for the Swedish system. Stephens said the judge appeared to have made a "close call" on whether to release Assange on bail. He said the judge had asked to see the evidence, which Stephens believed was "very thin indeed," against Assange. Several supporters gathered outside the court holding placards reading "Gagging the truth" and "Protect free speech," NBC News said. "This is going to go viral," Stephens said. "Many people will come forward to stand as an asurety to Mr. Assange." He said he had been told WikiLeaks would continue to exist in Assange's absence. "They have many thousands of journalists in a virtual journalistic community around the world." Stephens said. In Sweden, prosecutor Marianne Ny told a news conference that the sexual misconduct case was a personal matter for Assange and not connected with his work releasing secret U.S. diplomatic cables, according to newspaper Aftonbladet. "We have nothing which indicates that this is a plot," she said. Assange had been hiding out at an undisclosed location in Britain since WikiLeaks began publishing hundreds of U.S. diplomatic cables online last month. The legal troubles for Assange stem from allegations leveled against him by two women he met while in Sweden over the summer. The arrest warrant under which he was detained by British police arrived on Monday this week. Assange denies the allegations, which his lawyer Stephens says stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex." Assange and Stephens have suggested that the prosecution is being manipulated for political reasons. [B]'He is not violent' [/B]One of the women involved in the sexual abuse allegations told the Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet that she had had voluntary relations with him and had never wanted him to be charged with rape, [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/07/julian-assange-wikileaks-founder"]the Guardian said[/URL]. "He is not violent and I do not feel threatened by him," she said — anonymously — according to the paper. A spokesman for WikiLeaks called Assange's arrest an attack on media freedom and said it won't prevent the organization from releasing more secret documents. "This will not change our operation," Kristinn Hrafnsson told The Associated Press. Also on Tuesday, [URL="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332"]The Australian newspaper published an op-ed by Assange[/URL] in which he says WikiLeaks is "fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public." [B]'Poison pill' [/B]British police have been caught in the middle of the legal dispute over WikiLeaks and Assange's rape accusations, a former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police told msnbc.com Tuesday. "This is a set of circumstances that the Metropolitan Police will not want to get folded into," Andy Hayman said. "They got drawn into it.Ultimately it's between his lawyers, the Swedish authorities and possibly the Americans." Hayman added that it was now up to Sweden to prove to the U.K. that there were grounds to extradite Assange. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, visiting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, was pleased by the arrest. "That sounds like good news to me," he said. Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that WikiLeaks had no current plans to issue the code for an encrypted version of the rest of its documents — which has been called a "poison pill" — that would enable them to be published instantly, as it had threatened to do if its staff were arrested. The organization's room to maneuver has been narrowing by the day. It has been battered by Web attacks, cut off by Internet service providers and is the subject of a criminal investigation in the United States, where officials say the release jeopardized national security and diplomatic efforts around the world. But amid Assange's personal legal troubles, his website continued to reveal state secrets. According to the latest diplomatic cables — [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/06/wikileaks-cables-nato-russia-baltics"]reported by the Guardian[/URL] — NATO has drawn up secret plans to defend the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Poland against any Russian threat. Nine NATO divisions were identified for combat operations in the event of Russian aggression and countries were grouped together in a new regional defense scheme codenamed Eagle Guardian, the cables said. And in one of its most sensitive disclosures yet, WikiLeaks released on Sunday [URL="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40526224/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/"] a secret 2009 diplomatic cable listing sites around the world that the U.S. considers critical to its security [/URL] . Such revelations have prompted the U.S. to consider prosecuting Assange, but the rape allegation presents a more immediate issue. [B]'Dangerous' [/B]Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan called the WikiLeaks' disclosure "dangerous" and said it gives valuable information to the nation's enemies. NBC News reported that jihadists with connections to al-Qaida have started communicating online about the release. "We want to exploit this document," one reportedly wrote. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday the Obama administration was considering using laws in addition to the U.S. Espionage Act to possibly prosecute the release of government information by WikiLeaks. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told a news conference Tuesday that it is "grossly irresponsible" for WikiLeaks to publish items like critical infrastructure lists. But she backed away from her comment made last week that posting classified U.S. government documents on the WikiLeaks website was an "illegal" act. She said police were still investigating whether Assange had broken any Australian laws. For days, WikiLeaks has been forced by governments, hackers and companies to move from one website to another. It is now relying on a Swedish host. But WikiLeaks' Swedish servers were crippled after coming under suspected attack again Monday, the latest in a series of such assaults. It was not clear who was organizing the attacks. WikiLeaks has blamed previous ones on intelligence forces in the U.S. and elsewhere. WikiLeaks' huge online following of tech-savvy young people has pitched in, setting up more than 500 mirrors. Meanwhile, the Swiss postal system's financial arm, Postfinance, shut down a bank account set up by Assange to receive donations after the agency determined that he provided false information regarding his place of residence in opening the account. Assange had listed his lawyer's address in Geneva. "He will get his money back," Postfinance spokesman Alex Josty said. "We just close the account." Assange's lawyers said the account contained about $41,000. Over the weekend, the online payment service PayPal cut off WikiLeaks and, according to Assange's lawyers, froze $80,000 of the organization's money. Visa also said Tuesday that it had suspended all payments to WikiLeaks pending an investigation of the organization's business. The group is left with only a few options for raising money now — through a Swiss-Icelandic credit card processing center and accounts in Iceland and Germany. [/quote][URL="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40544697/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security"] HAI IM SAUCE [/URL]

FUCK SAKE insert blind america hatred here thanks comments below for making me realise it wasn't because of america

Oh for fucks sake

I'm sure the full statement of charges will be leaked soon enough. How the fuck is this dumb?

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;26546523]FUCK SAKE Jesus christ britland , stop sucking up to america. SHE IS YOUR CHILD. punish it. although it's because of sweden , we all know where those rape allegations suddenly came from don't we[/QUOTE] He's a flight risk, he cannot be granted bail.

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;26546523]FUCK SAKE Jesus christ britland , stop sucking up to america. SHE IS YOUR CHILD. punish it. although it's because of sweden , we all know where those rape allegations suddenly came from don't we[/QUOTE] You can't get bail if there's a chance of you deciding to run off, and since Assanage has no fixed address and has been skipping around Europe for the past few month he obviously isn't getting it.

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;26546523]FUCK SAKE Jesus christ britland , stop sucking up to america. SHE IS YOUR CHILD. punish it. although it's because of sweden , we all know where those rape allegations suddenly came from don't we[/QUOTE] This is standard procedure. He was unable to provide an address at which he lives in the UK, thus he cannot be granted bail. Also the prosecution(!!) said that he would be at risk from "unstable people" if he was let out on bail, so it seems to be partly for his own protection. I read somewhere a while ago people being held on remand aren't kept as law breaking criminals.

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;26546523]FUCK SAKE Jesus christ britland , stop sucking up to america. SHE IS YOUR CHILD. punish it. although it's because of sweden , we all know where those rape allegations suddenly came from don't we[/QUOTE] So sorry, old chap, for following our standard legal procedures when it comes to dealing with people who are wanted. [QUOTE=Jsm;26546819]This is standard procedure. He was unable to provide an address at which he lives in the UK, thus he cannot be granted bail. [b]Also the prosecution(!!) said that he would be at risk from "unstable people" if he was let out on bail, so it seems to be partly for his own protection.[/b] I read somewhere a while ago people being held on remand aren't kept as law breaking criminals.[/QUOTE] To be fair, though, it could be that they are just saying that to stop him from getting bail whilst at the same time trying to sound nice about it.

He's fucked

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;26546523]FUCK SAKE Jesus christ britland , stop sucking up to america. SHE IS YOUR CHILD. punish it. although it's because of sweden , we all know where those rape allegations suddenly came from don't we[/QUOTE] You're a complete idiot. I am not surprised he was denied bail, even if the charges are not real they have to treat them as if they were and he is a flight risk. I would love to know how much Wikileaks have had in donations over the last week and a bit...

Soo, Doomsday files are gonna be released when?

do we really need like 20 threads of wikileaks?

[QUOTE=peepin;26546894]Soo, Doomsday files are gonna be released when?[/QUOTE] Insurance file, and never if things go well.

[QUOTE=David29;26546856]To be fair, though, it could be that they are just saying that to stop him from getting bail whilst at the same time trying to sound nice about it.[/QUOTE] There is a point there, he has angered a lot of people, I bet more than a few people want his blood.

[QUOTE=Random112358;26546892]You're a complete idiot. I am not surprised he was denied bail, even if the charges are not real they have to treat them as if they were and he is a flight risk. I would love to know how much Wikileaks have had in donations over the last week and a bit...[/QUOTE] Seen as the only real way is by sending it to their PO box, probably not very much.

[QUOTE=Flapadar;26546941]Seen as the only real way is by sending it to their PO box, probably not very much.[/QUOTE] Online Transfer via Credit Card Bank Transfer [option 1: everyone] Bank Transfer [option 2: tax deductible in Germany] Postal Mail [url]http://wikileaks.ch/support.html[/url] Not idea but there are a lot of people that still would use the first 3.

The President of The US of America says: We will arrest this man and tell the public a lie.

[QUOTE=Ermac20;26546906]do we really need like 20 threads of wikileaks?[/QUOTE] Each thread is about a separate news story, this is pretty much the biggest news story of the past few years as it is global.

From Julian Assange stems world war 3, people will look to him as they looked to Gavrillo Princip.

I was alright when wikileaks was publishing documents about War atrocities. That's shit that should be brought to light. But Assange has gone too far; he's acting like an outright terrorist. I'm not doing it in the stupid conservative manner of saying "HE'S A TERRORIST GET HIM"; he's extorting world governments for fucks sake. This entire situation is led by this woefully misguided ideal that the public needs to know everything our governments do; we fucking [I]don't[/I]. It's impossible to have a secure nation that can't operate internally. Shit like possible invasions and our responses to them are absolutely necessary to be prepared. Releasing that sort of information simply destroys the effort we've taken to improve our image globally. All of the shit that Obama has done for us has been blown out the window by these acts. Just as the individual has a right to privacy, the government does as well. fuck if it weren't for lack of transparency the United States wouldn't even [I]exist.[/I] Nor would the bill of rights. [editline]7th December 2010[/editline] in a time where our government needs to be focusing on building the economy back up, Assange is just tossing shit at them and distracting them

What a fucking farce.

[QUOTE=BrickInHead;26547287]I was alright when wikileaks was publishing documents about War atrocities. That's shit that should be brought to light. But Assange has gone too far; he's acting like an outright terrorist. I'm not doing it in the stupid conservative manner of saying "HE'S A TERRORIST GET HIM"; he's extorting world governments for fucks sake. This entire situation is led by this woefully misguided ideal that the public needs to know everything our governments do; we fucking [I]don't[/I]. It's impossible to have a secure nation that can't operate internally. Shit like possible invasions and our responses to them are absolutely necessary to be prepared. Releasing that sort of information simply destroys the effort we've taken to improve our image globally. All of the shit that Obama has done for us has been blown out the window by these acts. Just as the individual has a right to privacy, the government does as well. fuck if it weren't for lack of transparency the United States wouldn't even [I]exist.[/I] Nor would the bill of rights. [editline]7th December 2010[/editline] in a time where our government needs to be focusing on building the economy back up, Assange is just tossing shit at them and distracting them[/QUOTE] I wish I could rate you a million agrees.

And suddenly the world turns against him, he is a dead man walking.

[QUOTE=Mabus;26547500]And suddenly the world turns against him, he is a dead man walking.[/QUOTE] It was all right when he wasn't releasing files that would do harm to civilians, but now since he crossed the line...

[QUOTE=Random112358;26547056]Each thread is about a separate news story, this is pretty much the biggest news story of the past few years as it is global.[/QUOTE] Probably the most dull thing ever that has had 30 threads. Every single story is so inconclusive and leads to so little. I'd rather read a 50 word summary in a month than read all these thousands of threads on slight changes to that tool's legal standing in the world. Like I give a shit if he leaks more useless information.

[QUOTE=BrickInHead;26547287]I was alright when wikileaks was publishing documents about War atrocities. That's shit that should be brought to light. But Assange has gone too far; he's acting like an outright terrorist. I'm not doing it in the stupid conservative manner of saying "HE'S A TERRORIST GET HIM"; he's extorting world governments for fucks sake. This entire situation is led by this woefully misguided ideal that the public needs to know everything our governments do; we fucking [I]don't[/I]. It's impossible to have a secure nation that can't operate internally. Shit like possible invasions and our responses to them are absolutely necessary to be prepared. Releasing that sort of information simply destroys the effort we've taken to improve our image globally. All of the shit that Obama has done for us has been blown out the window by these acts. Just as the individual has a right to privacy, the government does as well. fuck if it weren't for lack of transparency the United States wouldn't even [I]exist.[/I] Nor would the bill of rights. [editline]7th December 2010[/editline] in a time where our government needs to be focusing on building the economy back up, Assange is just tossing shit at them and distracting them[/QUOTE] Yes we nobody can do anything about it because of free speech.

[QUOTE=Fuhrer;26547591]Yes we nobody can do anything about it because of free speech.[/QUOTE] Leaking useless files is not covered by free speech.

[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;26547602]Leaking useless files is not covered by free speech.[/QUOTE] Yes but misguided people think it is covered, sadly. You take away wikileaks and they start calling you a fascist and all sorts of shit like that.

[QUOTE=Fuhrer;26547591]Yes we nobody can do anything about it because of free speech.[/QUOTE] Secrets are required to run a stable government. If everyone knew what they were doing, the government would of never existed in the first place.

I think he will "die in an accident" or "disappear" in a couple of months.