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In reply to the discussion: Are Liberals Too Eager to Believe Sex Charges Against Julian Assange? [View all]Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)But it's pretty fucking condescending to lump people who happen to be on the political left but who also think Assange should go to Sweden to answer the case against him in the political right. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I'm all for some degree of transparency and don't in principle disagree with the idea behind Wikileaks. However I also don't confuse that with supporting Julian Assange; the two are not the same thing at all.
Also you fail reading comprehension, nowhere in my post did I even use the words "rape apologist". Although at the same time there are a fuck of a lot of, frankly, morons who are making various stupid assertions that are belied by the actual facts, as well: "it's not rape!" "he's not charged with or wanted for rape!" "he hasn't been charged with anything!" All of which show that people are basically ignorant of the case, the grounds for the European Arrest Warrant, the laws regarding rape in Sweden, and the differences between Swedish and American legal process, among other things. And a lot of it does sound like "rape apology"; see the argument (made by a lot of people in this very forum), that penetrating a woman you've had consensual sex with the night before when she's sleeping can't possibly be rape even if her consent was conditional on wearing a condom and you weren't. Honestly it's not that straightforward, and it's frankly absurd to say that the only people who are saying Assange should be extradited are "right wing opponents of Wikileaks".
The evidence needs to be examined BEFORE A MAGISTRATE in Sweden. This is how the Swedish procedure works; the prosecutor thinks there are grounds for a trial. Only 10% of rape trials in Sweden result in convicions (which is a higher rate than in the US, but still not that impressive); Assange if tried stands a good chance of acquittal. If he is confident that he didn't commit the actions he's accused of, let him face trial.