Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/10/u-s-may-drop-assange-prosecution.html
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There may be a reasonable case for dropping the charges, but Assange is still a huge asshole who helped put Trump in power.
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Never gonna forget that shit. He should not be prosecuted, but he can fuck off.
and I want to point out that while Chelsea Manning was serving time for the leak, he was safe and sound in the Ecuadorian embassy. The reality is that sometimes breaking unjust law means serving jail time. But I’m not sure he actually had the courage of his convictions that Manning clearly had.
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The strange part is I suspect Biden is contemplating this as there are Democratic functionaries that think this will somehow help him with an imagined “youth” voting constituency.
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Assange also broke the law in a very selective and partisan manner that suggests his actions were less about upholding personal convictions than a desire to be a world-famous rabble-rouser.
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But if he is doing this to get some specific demographic’s vote… who cares. It’s STILL the right thing to do.
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Dropping the espionage charges is a good thing, but this asshole should still face the rape charges. I may have missed something, but they seemed highly credible and were only dropped because he hid out in the Ecuadorean embassy for so long.
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Assange is now a wreck of a man, with severe mental health problems, so the deterrent and punitive effect sought by the US establishment was already achieved. Like all establishments, the most heinous crime in their view is whistleblowing and insisting on accountability.
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Has it, though?
No justice for his alleged victims has ever been served.
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A reminder to the fanbois who always show up here for Assange (as sure as they do for Musk, Jordaddy, etc.) that being a whistleblower isn’t a “get out of jail free” card for alleged sexual assault.
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Assange has been in Prison for 4 years (not counting the time that he was in the Ecuadorian embassy) so he has already served the length of sentence that he would have been given for rape.
That doesn’t excuse that the rape charges have never been formally prosecued and (assuming that the rapes did occur), his victims have never had closure or compensation.
He is an asshat and a coward so I have no sympathy for him, though I don’t feel anyone deserves an unending punishment, this needs to be resolved one way or other as soon as possible.
You don’t usually publicly announce to one of your most important allies that just committed to buying a shit ton of nuclear submarines from you that you’re not considering their request.
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Assange wasn’t a whistleblower, he was useful idiot for russian intelligence.
Journalists follow ethical guidelines, that Assange had no interest in maintaining.
I agree, The DOJ is most likely thinking the same that there isn’t any good reason to continue to try to prosecute him. As long as he stays out of the disinformation game.
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He has been in prison for four years, but that is not on account of the rape charges. His time in Ecuador was entirely self-imposed, so he hasn’t really been punished for the rapes in any way, shape or form.
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He wasn’t even a whistleblower. He made a site for whistleblowers to blow the whistle anonymously…except it didn’t turn out to be very anonymous, so real heroes like Chelsea Manning went to prison.
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