I’ve been in the vanguard of those calling on the UK government to extradite Julian Assange. This, after the Ecuadorian embassy infamously kicked him to the curb in 2019 for continually violating the conditions of his asylum in its London embassy. That’s where British police, who had been lying in wait for nearly seven years, promptly arrested him.
I refer you in this regard to “Ecuador Grants Wikileaker Julian Assange Asylum … in London?” August 20, 2012, and “UK Arrests Wikileaker Julian Assange (for Extradition to US) … Finally!” April 11, 2019.
Incidentally, it not only speaks volumes, but is probably incriminating that Assange could not even respect the conditions of his asylum to save his ass. Because this lends credibility to the women accusing him of rape who say he refused to respect their sexual boundaries.
This is why I was somewhat heartened when I woke up to this report in the Guardian yesterday:
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Priti Patel has approved the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US, a decision the organisation immediately said it would appeal against in the high court.
The case passed to the British home secretary last month after the UK supreme court ruled that there were no legal questions over assurances given by US authorities on Assange’s likely treatment.
While Patel has given the green light, WikiLeaks immediately released a statement to say it would appeal against the decision. ‘Today is not the end of the fight,’ it said. ‘It is only the beginning of a new legal battle. We will appeal through the legal system; the next appeal will be before the high court.’
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Truth be told, my first reaction was: What took them so long…? After all, he’s not only a leaker of US top secrets but a sexual abuser of many women…
In fact, Julian Assange is more of an outlaw than even Donald J. Trump when it comes to gaming the law. The manifest absurdity is that Assange has been able to avoid extradition for far too many years – from a prison in the United Kingdom – based on the claim that he might be treated unfairly in a prison in the United States.
Which brings me to the reason I am only “somewhat heartened.” Because, despite the consciousness of guilt his absconding to the Ecuadorian embassy betrays, the UK legal system seems bound to allow him to delay his day of reckoning even longer.
The point is that, Assange is becoming the personification of the legal maxim coined by no less a person than former British prime minister, William Gladstone, namely:
Justice delayed is justice denied.
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UK arrests Assange…