Ya Know... There's A Third Possibility On The Assange Divide...

[MADem]

24. No it isn't. What horseshit.

First, Sweden (as the UK) is party to the European Convention of Human Rights. The Convention has been incorporated in Swedish law which makes it directly applicable for all state agencies, courts and the Government. Following the Soering Case, Sweden (and the UK) are prohibited from extraditing a person who may face the death penalty. Pursuant to obligations from European Convention of Human and the Convention against Torture, there is also a prohibition against extraditing somebody where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture (which includes inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment).

Second, pursuant to article 28(4) of the Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, “a person who has been surrendered pursuant to a European arrest warrant shall not be extradited to a third State without the consent of the competent authority of the Member State which surrendered the person. Such consent shall be given in accordance with the Conventions by which that Member State is bound, as well as with its domestic law.” Cameron and et. al write the following on p. 191: “It can be noted here, in connection with the EAW proceedings in 2010 concerning ‘Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange, that the principle of speciality means that Assange cannot be extradited or deported from Sweden, unless the UK grants its permission for this.” This means that the present decision from British authorities, upheld by Supreme Court, to extradite Assange to Sweden for sexuually related crimes is not enough. If the US would request Sweden to extradite Assange the issue would not only have to be approved by the Prosecutor-General, Supreme Court and Government in Sweden, it would also have to go through the British legal system a second time (which took more than 500 days the first time). In other words, if the US wants Assange extradited from Sweden, he will have the protection of both the Swedish and British legal systems. It would appear easier to have him extradited directly from the UK.

Third, the Swedish extradition agreements with the US do not allow extradition when the offence is purely military or if the offence is a political offence. See article 5(4)-(5) of Convention on extradition between the United States of America and Sweden, 24 October 1961. See also the supplementary convention from 14 March 1983. Cameron and et. al write the following on p. 177: “No definition is given in the Extradition Act of what offence constitute a political offence. In Swedish extradition law, as in many other countries’ extradition laws, a distinction is made between absolute and relative political crimes. Absolute political crimes are those exclusively directed against the state… espionage is an absolute political crime according to the travaux préparatoires”. One may add that in Swedish law, as opposed to English law, travaux préparatoires are a source of law.

As I understand, Ecuador has granted Assange political asylum, i.e. Ecuador is arguing that the US is seeking Assange for a political offence (espionage). Moreover, they fear that Assange will be subject to the death penalty and/or torture. As explained above, extradition from Sweden would for several reasons not be granted in such a case.

http://opiniojuris.org/2012/08/22/klamberg-on-extraditing-assange-from-sweden-to-the-u-s/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=klamberg-on-extraditing-assange-from-sweden-to-the-u-s