Assange Has Requested Political Asylum & Is Under Protection of Ecuardorian Embassy in London

[snot]

22. Ditto what the other Assange defenders have said. Don't believe the smears.

Neither Assange nor Wikileaks has been charged with any violation of any law in any country on the planet, tho' not for lack of trying by the authorities. The women accusing him don't want him prosecuted; they only wanted him tested for STDs. He offered to be questioned while in Sweden before departing for the UK – he lingered there for a month or more for that purpose – and he's offered to be questioned while in the UK; that's not what the authorities want. They want him in their custody, so he can be extradited to the US (apparently no UK or other law would require the UK to do that, but it's seen as likely if Assange is brought to Sweden).

Interesting to compare to the case of Gary McKinnon, also in the UK, who basically admits to biggest US military computer hack of all time and whom the US has been trying to get their hands on since 2002. McKinnon clearly DID break the law, yet he STILL hasn't been extradited. Cf. also the case of convicted pedophile Shawn Sullivan, wanted in the US since 1994 for allegedly molesting two 11-year-old girls and having unlawful sex with a girl of 14.

Excellent succinct summary of common misconceptions about Assange's situation here: http://wlcentral.org/node/2554 . See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002528962 .

Meanwhile, authorities in the US and elsewhere have exerted every conceivable means to try to shut Assange and Wikileaks down, in addition to the smears, trying to get them kicked off the internet and literally strangling them financially (all the major banks and credit card cos. refuse to process donations, even though no violation of any law has actually been charged, so they might arguably be in violation of their own credit card service agrts – but it takes money to sue them!)