Interpol Really Couldn't Find A Photo Of Julian Assange In Issuing An Arrest Warrant?

from the gee,-sounds-rushed... dept

As you’ve probably heard by now, Interpol has issued a “red notice” for the arrest of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, stemming from the sexual assault charges against him in Sweden. I’ll leave it to others to analyze the actual merits of the charges against Assange, or the fact that Interpol has gotten involved at this stage, but did want to highlight one oddity. Assange has been everywhere lately and is all over the news and the internet. How is it possible that Interpol couldn’t dig up a photo of him to include with the notice?

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Comments on “Interpol Really Couldn't Find A Photo Of Julian Assange In Issuing An Arrest Warrant?”

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55 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

On a serious note though.

The charges against him according to some sources seems a bit of a stretch, like the woman claiming it started consensual and when the condom broke he refused to stop the action and that turned the thing into rape?

I can only imagine what the other charge looks like but it seems to me that there are some people that are working very hard to discredit the man.

The next time he should just get a hooker it cost less.

DCX2 says:

Re: Re: Re:

Okay, so you’re in the middle of some hot action, and it breaks. She asks you to stop.

Do you…just stop? Or do you try to persuade her? “Come on, it already broke so it’s too late, we might as well finish”

Is it wrong to ask to continue? If she agrees, is it still rape, even though she gave consent again? What if she regrets agreeing to it later?

The complete lack of details is totally uncharacteristic of the media. It makes me think that the truth isn’t really as bad as what people think when they hear “Julian Assange is wanted for rape!!!!!111eleven”

Rose M. Welch (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

If someone says no, or stop, you stop. Period. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, or what gender you are. You stop.

Once you’ve stopped, and are physically unattached to your partner, then it’s appropriate to discuss it.

As for the minutia of the claim, there were a ton of details at the time, but it was dismissed by a Swedish judge a while back, so the fervor died down.

Rose M. Welch (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Here’s an old HuffPo article about the initial rape case.

A Stockholm prosecutor issued the arrest warrant on Friday, saying Assange was suspected of rape and molestation in two separate cases. But chief prosecutor Eva Finne withdrew the warrant within 24 hours.

“I don’t think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape,” Finne said in a brief statement.

Assange was in Sweden partly to apply for a publishing certificate to make sure the website, which has servers in Sweden, can take full advantage of Swedish laws protecting whistle-blowers.

He also spoke at a seminar hosted by the Christian faction of the opposition Social Democratic party and announced he would write bimonthly columns for a left-wing Swedish newspaper.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/21/julian-assange-rape-case-_n_690009.html

Rose M. Welch (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

And here’s another…

A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other.

Investigators have not released details about either case, though a police report obtained by the AP shows both women had met Assange in connection with a seminar he gave in Stockholm on Aug. 14. The report shows the women filed their complaints together six days later.

Wikileaks made headlines around the world July 25 when it released tens of thousands of pages of secret U.S. documents about Afghanistan.

Assange is seeking legal protection for WikiLeaks in Sweden, one of the countries where the group says it has servers. The Swedish Migration Board has confirmed that Assange has applied for a work and residence permit in the Scandinavian country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/01/julian-assange-rape-inves_n_701578.html

Failure Happening (profile) says:

Not really sure about Interpol involvement...

Surely this is politically motivated…

Extract from the ICPO-INTERPOL Constitution and General Regulations:

It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/LegalMaterials/constitution/constitutionGenReg/constitution.asp

DCX2 says:

The merits of the case...

Are there *any* details about these allegations, at all? The only thing I see anywhere is “broken condom”.

What is with that? The media *loves* a salacious scandal. When Spitzer got pwned, we knew the hooker’s name, where it went down, we even knew how much she cost!

I would think that if Assange actually did terrible things, they would be plastered all over the Internet. That they are not may imply that the release of actual details would take the wind out of the sails they’re trying to use.

Without any details at all, I believe that the incident is probably embarrassing and shameful, but not malicious.

cannonfodder (profile) says:

War Criminals Gettin Away With It

what about charging the USA, UK, officials with war crimes?

remember kids its only terrorism when they do it, our government/military murder, torture and rape with the justification of god…

A great interview on the topic with Noam Chompsky can be found here noam is at 26min:

FTA: Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal “Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership”

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/30/noam_chomsky_wikileaks_cables_reveal_profound

Anonymous Coward says:

Just to clarify

Julian Assange is wanted for arrest for

RED HOT SEX IN SWEDEN

AND

***************NOT*****************
***************FOR*****************
*************HELPING***************
*************HILLARY***************
***************DO******************
***************HER*****************
***************JOB*****************

************ETHICALLY**************

Just a FYI.

Richard Kulawiec says:

Doesn't matter if it sticks...

…it will achieve its goal of shifting the press narrative. The MSM — who have forgotten how to practice “journalism”, which is why there’s a need for entities like Wikileaks to exist, will now ignore the important story (what’s in the data) in favor of the salacious juicy scandal. They’ll frown and express grave concern and make sure that this headline is in the omnipresent screen crawl. And the underlying purpose (“Wikileaks == rapists”) will be achieved.

What we are seeing here is quite similar to what we’re seeing from the MAFIAA et.al.: it is the reaction of the soon-to-be-extinct, who lack the intellectual ability to adapt and so are fighting a losing battle against evolution. They’re already obsolete, and somewhere inside they know it.

Jay says:

Julian Assange's case

Link

Swedish bloggers uncovered the full story in a few hours. The complaint was lodged by a radical feminist Anna Ardin, 30, a one-time intern in the Swedish Foreign Service. She?s spokeswoman for Broderskapsr?relsen, the liberation theology-like Christian organization affiliated with Sweden’s Social Democratic Party. She had invited Julian Assange to a crayfish party, and they had enjoyed some quality time together. When Ardin discovered that Julian shared a similar experience with a 20-year-old woman a day or two later, she obtained the younger woman?s cooperation in declaring before the police that changing partners in so rapid a manner constituted a sort of deceit. And deceit is a sort of rape. The prosecutor immediately issued an arrest warrant, and the press was duly notified. Once the facts were examined in the cold light of day, the charge of rape seemed ludicrous and was immediately dropped. In the meantime the younger woman, perhaps realizing how she had been used, withdrew her report, leaving the vengeful Anna Ardin standing alone.

This is sounding more and more conspiratorial against a guy that is, if anything, unconventional.

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