Sunday, April 17, 2011

Swedish authorities face yet another irregularity in their sex probe of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. By Andrew Kreig

Professors blogg proudly presents a new article by the prominent American attorney and journalist Andrew Kreig, Director of the Washington-based Justice Integrity Project. Andrew Kreig is a columnist in the Huffington Post and he contributes as well as guest-columnist in Professors blogg./ Prof. Marcello Ferrada-Noli


Swedish authorities face yet another irregularity in their sex probe of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
By Andrew Kreig

Introduction
All who despair of progress in human rights work in the face of oppression should take heart from the tireless efforts of Dr. Ferrada de Noli on the Professors Blogg. He and it truly make a difference. As such, I am proud that one of the Justice Integrity Project’s recent articles about Sweden is being republished in the ongoing series about the Assange case.  That case is important, but let’s raising our perspective beyond it.  Professors Blogg is providing cutting-edge material of global importance on the phenomenon of media self-censorship, as evident in its recent series about Swedish National Television coverage of Assange.  Media self-censorship increasingly undermines Western democracies, partly because it is less dramatic than outright government censorship and therefore so much hard to report. But its effect is the same: to curtail the information we need as citizens to protect our rights and advance our opportunities. 

Irmeli Krans
On March 10, the Swedish tabloid Expressen reported that Assange complainant Anna A. (“Witness A”) age 31, was a longstanding friend of Irmeli Krans, the politically active Stockholm policewoman who wrote up a complaint Aug. 20 after Witness A brought her friend Sofia W. in for testimony. The complaint alleged sex misconduct by Assange, 39, during his speaking trip that month.

Swedish authorities have denied that the police-witness relationship compromises their sex misconduct investigation. Defense attorneys reacted by saying the friendship creates a conflict of interest, particularly in such an unprecedented case. Sweden issued an Interpol alert to capture Assange even though he has never been formally accused of a crime. Also, Sweden claims the right to extradite Assange and have him held without bond for a secret trial. Meanwhile, United States authorities are working feverishly to help build a parallel spy case, in part by holding alleged accomplice, Pfc. Bradley Manning, pretrial in virtual solitary confinement, with enforced nakedness. We provide details below.


A sample of news
Listed below are selected articles on legal reform and political, security and media factors. The articles contain a sample of news. See the full article by visiting the Project home page's section on News Reports, and clicking the link.

Expressen, Interrogator in the Assange Case Friend with Woman Accusing WikiLeaks Founder, March 10, 2011. The police interrogator in the Julian Assange-investigation is a friend of one of the two women who is accusing the Wikileaks founder of sexual assault, Expressen can now reveal. Personal remarks on the internet reveal that the interrogator and the woman who reported Julian Assange had contact in April 2009. This was sixteen months before Assange was reported to the police for, amongst other things, rape allegations. On her own Facebook page, the police interrogator two weeks ago praised the lawyer of the two women and described Assange as the "overrated bubble ready to burst". The Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and his lawyers have on several occasions criticized the Swedish judicial system and claimed that all possibilities of a fair trial have been eradicated.

Associated Press / Huffington Post, Swedish police under scrutiny in Assange case, March 10, 2011. Julian Assange's Swedish lawyer says a newspaper report casts doubt on whether the sex abuse investigation against the WikiLeaks founder was carried out in an impartial manner. Swedish tabloid Expressen reported Thursday that a police officer involved in the initial phase of the probe had personal and political links to one of the two women accusing Assange of sexual misconduct. Expressen also said the officer, Irmeli Krans, described Assange as a "bubble ready to burst" on her personal Facebook page. "If this information is correct, then one should carefully consider whether the nature of the investigation is such that he can be assured a fair trial," Assange's lawyer Bjoern Hurtig told The Associated Press.

Professors blogg, Opinion censorship in Swedish media: Link-search engine NOT the cause, Dr. Marcello Ferrada de Noli, March 12, 2011. Swedes should start by protesting and demand a fair media report on this and all issues affecting the Nation. The public should own the truth. Those in power should own the shame. Twingly unequivocally admits that a Swedish newspaper would censure publications whose content is estimated as inappropriate. The question is still who authored the request for censuring BOTH Naomi Wolf’s and Andrew Kreig’s articles on the theme Karl Rove, Assange and Sweden published in the Swedish-based Professors blog?

Counterpunch, How the Swedes Set Up Julian Assange, Israel Shamir, March 7, 2011. The British magistrate court has decided to surrender Julian Assange to the Nordic Amazons who were hunting for his head – pending appeal. Thus the long Saga of the Broken Condom, or whatever name by which it will become known to posterity, took a definite turn for the worse. The judge decided to honor the European Arrest Warrant issued by man-eating Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny. Julian has appealed to the High Court, ensuring that the saga will go on as a side divertissement to the main story, Cablegate. We shall not delve again into what happened between Julian and the two women; this has already been covered in previous installments. Today we turn to the dramatic events that occurred immediately afterwards.

Washington Post, WikiLeaks suspect's treatment 'stupid,' U.S. official says, Ellen Nakashima, March 12, 2011. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has called the treatment of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley E. Manning, an Army private whom military jailers forced to sleep naked for several days last week, "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." President Obama, asked Friday about Crowley's statement, said he had made inquiries about the conditions of Manning's incarceration. "I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assured me that they are," Obama said.

Salon / Unclaimed Territory, Amnesty calls for protests over Bradley Manning's treatment, Glenn Greenwald, March 10, 2011. Oh, that's very reassuring -- and such a very thorough and diligent effort by the President to ensure that detainees under his command aren't being abused. He asked the Pentagon and they said everything was great -- what more is there to know?

Washington Post, Government can get records from Twitter for WikiLeaks probe, judge rules, Dana Hedgpeth, March 11, 2011. A federal judge ruled Friday that the government can obtain records from the online social networking site Twitter in its criminal investigation of WikiLeaks. Three key players in the probe had argued that handing over their Twitter account information violated their constitutional rights.
Andrew Kreig



Labels & links Wikileaks, J Assange, Assange, yttrandehefrihet, media, , , intressant

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