[governance] EU official tells Julian Assange 'just go to Sweden'

[Riaz K Tayob]

[In some jurisdictions, even a suggestion of considering to consent to 
possible torture (as defined by the UN special rapporteur) would be 
horrifying. Hannah Arendt was right about the banality fo evil, right... 
or is that too Manichean? Malmstrom seems not to be aware that after the 
European Court of Human Rights judges disavowed themselves of the role 
of guardians against torture (American prisons are rosy places according 
to their findings), or maybe she is VERY aware... as the poem goes 
"first they came for..."  ]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eu-official-tells-julian-assange-just-go-to-sweden-8376295.html


  EU official tells Julian Assange 'just go to Sweden'


      Kevin Rawlinson
      <http://www.independent.co.uk/biography/kevin-rawlinson> Author
      Biography

Monday 03 December 2012


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should "just go" to Sweden and face 
allegations of sexual assault, according to one of Europe's top officials.

Mr Assange, 41, has been holed-up in a west London embassy building for 
nearly six months but Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for 
Home Affairs, has demanded he "answer the questions" about the alleged 
attacks, dismissing the threat of his onward extradition to America as 
"purely theoretical".

"I'm not engaged in this, I know there are talks. But he's accused of 
rape, of sexual harassment and if he's innocent, which he might be --- I 
don't know --- why doesn't he just go and answer the questions? I don't 
believe for a minute that's why he would go to the US," said Ms 
Malmström, who is herself a Swede.

She added: "He [Assange] is asked to come to Sweden because he's accused 
of some crimes. He stays in the embassy. For the moment there is no 
solution. Whether Sweden would extradite him to the US or not, that is 
up to the Swedish authorities to decide. I don't think that would 
happen. That's purely theoretical."

Mr Assange fears that, once he arrives in Sweden, he will be sent on to 
America over allegations that he was involved in the leaking of 
sensitive -- and embarrassing -- cables as the editor-in-chief of 
WikiLeaks. But that move would require the consent of the UK Home 
Secretary Theresa May, who has already allowed his extradition to the 
Scandinavian country. Neither the UK, nor the USA have been drawn on the 
issue.

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