Over the last couple of months, firebrand and societal Rorschach test Julian Assange has had trouble heaped upon trouble for him. More bad news has just been delivered for the Australian journalist. A month after being yanked out of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he had taken refuge in for seven years, the Swedish government announced that it was reopening the investigation into the rape allegations filed against Assange.
After Ecuador revoked the WikiLeaks founder’s asylum, England moved to arrest him on April 11. He has since been convicted of violating the conditions of his bail and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison. The violation of his bail terms stems from the rape allegations in Sweden. The door to his arrest was opened after Ecuador got fed up with his belligerent and rude behavior while enjoying their hospitality.
In 2010, Sweden issued a warrant for Assange’s arrest in response to the rape allegations against him. For his part, Assange insists that the allegations and arrest warrant are simply a pretext to extradite him to the U.S., where he is wanted on charges of hacking into a government computer and aiding traitor Bradley “Chelsea” Manning. If convicted, Assange faces up to five years in prison, although it’s believed that further charges are forthcoming. The irony of Assange’s conspiracy theory regarding the rape allegations is that Sweden’s announcement throws into doubt which country, the U.S. or Sweden, gets the first crack at him. Variety explains:
Sweden’s decision to revive its investigation into Assange raises the issue of which country’s extradition requests takes precedence. Stockholm had first issued a European warrant on Assange in 2010 after two women accused him of sexual molestation and assault, and British police arrested him. But before his scheduled extradition to Sweden in 2012, he bolted into the Ecuadorean embassy.
[Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecution] said it would be up to Britain to decide which extradition request to honor first. She also said that Sweden had discontinued its investigation into Assange not because of “difficulties in evidence” but because his self-sequestration in the Ecuadorean embassy made it impossible for the inquiry to proceed.
Assange makes for an interesting case in the #MeToo era. He’s become somewhat of a folk hero to many. Oddly, that “many” includes libertarians and leftists. The libertarians’ support of Assange, especially those fascinated by the 17th-century terrorist Guy Fawkes, I get. Leftists, though, the ones beating the #believerher drum, should be at the front of the mob trying to drag Assange back to Sweden to answer for the rape charges. However, it’s 2019 and it appears that a circle can now be a square. Blatant leftist hypocrisy is now par for the course. Regardless, it appears that Assange’s troubles are truly beginning.
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