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Assange & Sweden: Read About It

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Rupert Murdoch is infamous for any number of things. One thing regularly overlooked is his original strategy for dealing with political opponents back home in Australia. Ignore them. Don't flame them with vitriolic editorials - don't write anything at all.

Nothing ever happens, nothing really matters
No one ever tells me so what am I to know You wouldn't read about it, read about it
Just another incredible scene, there's no doubt about it

The monstrous topic thread at the Swedish language Flashback forum started back in August 2010 has grown in six months to nearly 2,500,000 views with over 25,000 posts. Do the math. This Guinness record candidate averaged 4,000 posts per month or nearly 135 per day. For six months the members of Flashback worked to uncover all the details of the 'Assange & Sweden' case. All the while the media organisations of the world peeked in. And used Google Translate to get a blurry idea of what was going on.

The rich get richer, the poor get the picture
The bombs never hit you when you're down so low The bosses want decisions, the workers need ambitions
There won't be no collisions when they move so slow

Several news organisations - notably the Daily Mail, the Guardian, Sweden's tabloids Expressen and Aftonbladet - obtained copies of the police documentation in the case early on. None of them bothered publishing the raw documents themselves. The Daily Mail cherry-picked details they thought could be made to appear 'salacious'. The Guardian cherry-picked details they thought could disparage the character of their former partner Julian Assange. Aftonbladet and Expressen were happy just to brag they got copies - they didn't bother doing much more. Then the actual police documents themselves were leaked. You can find the cover page for Rixstep's English translation here. There's no more speculation about the facts of the case. And it turned out Flashback were pretty much spot on about the most of it. But the major media organisations are still abusing the truth. Marianne Ny is rumoured to already be in Belmarsh, having flown in yesterday evening. So let it be known as things go forward that there is no need for speculation. And anyone or any organisation claiming to have 'new revealing details' in the case is - simply put - an outright liar. Julian Assange returns to Belmarsh later today, accompanied by Mark Stephens, Jennifer Robinson, and Geoffrey Robertson QC. Today's 'hearing' should be a short affair as judge Riddle hands down his decision in the extradition request from Marianne Ny and Sweden. There was no cause for a 'red notice' European Arrest Warrant - and a conscientious study of the police documents makes painfully clear there is no case at all. And it's rather obvious why Swedish prosecutor Eva Finné - the first prosecutor to actually see any documents in the case - immediately dismissed it. This is politics and nothing else. One should hope for the best but expect the worst. Sweden is either way the most hated country on the planet for some time.

You wouldn't read about it, read about it
One unjust ridiculous steal, ain't no doubt about it You wouldn't read about it, read about it
Just another particular deal, there's no doubt about it

If I am able to reveal what I know, everyone will realise this is all a charade. If I could tell the British courts, I suspect it would make extradition a moot point.
- Björn Hurtig

I can tell you that the Swedish prosecution still hasn't provided copies of those SMS texts that have been referred to. Those texts are some of the most powerful exculpatory evidence. In Australia prosecutors have a very grave duty to disclose such evidence to courts when seeking the grave exercise of a court's power against an individual. Yet in Sweden in this case, in the first hearings to obtain an arrest warrant, those texts were not submitted to the Swedish court, which is highly improper.
- James Catlin