Post by Frederick WilliamsIn my country--the UK--there is much discussion about the
possibility of Julian Assange being extradited to the US, most
likely via Sweden. Has Julian Assange broken any US law while
in a US jurisdiction?
There have been very aggressively stated _ALLEGATIONS_ by leading
political figures in the U.S. that he has and that he has has been
vigorously disputed by his attorneys and other of his defenders.
But even if unintentionally, it is misleading to pose the above
question in only after the fact and therefore effectively question
begging terms (has he broken any US law while in a US jurisdiction?)
because, among other things as a THRESHOLD matter, there have been
apparently reliable reports that a secret grand jury (whose existence
was first made public by some of the subpoenaed witnesses) has issued
a still sealed indictment of Assange that violation of U.S. espionage
act and related criminal violations.
Report: WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange
indicted in U.S.
A top official at the private [and also quasi-
governmental] research service Stratfor told
colleagues via e-mail last year that WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange was the subject of a
sealed indictment by the U.S. Government, the
Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The claim that Assange faces charges in the
United States came in e-mails apparently stolen
from Stratfor by the hackers' group Anonymous
and relayed to news organizations by Assange's
pro-transparency organization WikiLeaks.
"We have a sealed indictment on Assange,"
Stratfor vice president for intelligence Fred Burton
said in a January 26, 2011, e-mail, according to the
Herald.
The Herald's report, published Wednesday morning
in Australia, said Burton's note carried notations such
as "please protect" and "not for pub[lication]" suggesting
the source of the information was a US government
official.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/02/report-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-indicted-in-115779.html
Some of the grand jury related documents can be read online at
http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/grand_jury/legal_dockets_a/