Is this the photo that could clear Assange?

It seems an unremarkable image: a group of friends smiling broadly. But this is the photograph Julian Assange hopes will clear his name. The face of the woman on the left has been obscured for legal reasons. For although she is seen beaming, she would later tell police that 48 hours before the picture was taken, the WikiLeaks founder pinned her down in her flat and sexually assaulted her.

If the case ever reaches court – Mr Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London – his lawyers will argue that the photograph undermines the 33-year-old woman’s entire story. And, they claim, there is more.

In the two days after the alleged assault in Sweden, Mr Assange and Woman A, as she is known, attended a conference and two dinner parties where it is claimed they were practically inseparable.

During one party, Woman A tweeted that she was ‘with the world’s coolest, smartest people!’.

The photograph was taken on August 15, 2010, at the Glenfiddich restaurant in Stockholm, at a dinner of meatballs and schnapps hosted by Rickard Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party (PP), which campaigns for greater government transparency.

Although by all accounts it was a jolly occasion, there was some serious discussion that at times became ‘passionate and intense’.

Mr Falkvinge said the purpose of the dinner, which lasted three hours, was to sign a contract between the PP and WikiLeaks so Mr Assange’s organisation could use the party’s computer servers.

Also present was the deputy leader of PP, Anna Troberg, and the party’s IT manager, Richard Olson, who brought along his then fiancee, Sara Sandberg.

Since the assault charges were brought, Mr Falkvinge and Ms Troberg have given detailed statements to the police in support of Mr Assange. Mr Falkvinge said their testimony included observations about the body language between Mr Assange and Woman A, who arrived with another woman, called Pietra, who stayed just for the starter.

Mr Falkvinge sat next to Mr Assange, with Woman A sitting diagonally opposite them.

‘Most of the night, Julian was speaking with me,’ Mr Falkvinge said. ‘This was a heads of organisation meeting and everybody had a counterpart to talk to. It was a professional dinner.’

For Mr Falkvinge, one of the things that was striking about it, in view of what he later learned, was that Woman A volunteered to become Mr Assange’s press secretary during the meal. Mr Falkvinge has refused to go into details about the way Woman A behaved with Mr Assange, because he has to give evidence in court if a trial is held.

But he made it clear that he did not think Woman A behaved like a victim or someone who had suffered a traumatic sexual experience only two days earlier.

He said: ‘You can look at objective facts and draw far-reaching conclusions: the fact that we are at the dinner and it was with very passionate people and with good food and drinks; the fact that I and Anna Troberg have left depositions as key defence witnesses in the upcoming trial – that does tell you a lot.

‘You can say what we saw was more consistent with the defence than the prosecution.’

Due to Woman A’s complaint to the police, as well as that of another alleged victim, Mr Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden from Britain for the past two years.

He insists he has been set up, and fears that going to Sweden is a ruse for him to be quickly extradited to America, where he could stand trial for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents on the WikiLeaks website.

His two-year fight against extradition took a bizarre twist when Mr Assange entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in June seeking asylum.

He was granted asylum by Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa last week, igniting a diplomatic rift between Ecuador and Britain.

The Mail on Sunday has also learned that just hours after the alleged attack, Woman A accompanied Mr Assange to a Social Democratic Party conference.

According to police reports, it was there that Mr Assange met Woman B, aged 29, who would accuse him of rape.

The two women’s lawyer, Claes Borsgtrom, said yesterday: ‘We will only discuss the dinner at the restaurant and the picture in court.’

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chrisc4290 said:

It has always had the smell of a put-up job. However, the Swedish legal system bends over backwards to be fair, so he should take his chance in a Swedish court

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chrisc4290 said:

It has always had the smell of a put-up job. However, the Swedish legal system bends over backwards to be fair, so he should take his chance in a Swedish court

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atomcrusher said:

Sweden (and the UK) bend over forward and take it in the rear, for their fear of the USA, and what USA may do to their economies if they don't toe the USA line w.r.t. Assange.

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Spizz said:

Really? So why don't the UK just send him straight to the US?

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Spizz said:

Really? So why don't the UK just send him straight to the US?

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WilD_CaT said:

He is not on UK soil at present.

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Jola said:

They don't need to - Sweden will do it.

Sweden has a history of cooperating with the CIA.

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Spizz said:

And the UK have to agree to it.

Aren't the UK the lapdogs? Why bother with Sweden?

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Jola said:

No they don't - where do you get that from?

And Sweden is convenient, partly because of the seemingly trumped up charges.

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Spizz said:

Yes they do. Go look at the Internet, it appears you have access to it. I'm on my phone in a hotel lobby or I'd do it for you.

It is in fact twice as hard to extradite him from Sweden as it would have been from the UK.

If they had asked.

Which of course, they didn't.

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The suggestion that Mr Assange’s human rights would be put at risk by the possibility of onward extradition from Sweden to a third country is also without foundation. Not only would Sweden – as a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights – be required to refuse extradition to a third country in circumstances which would breach his human rights, but the authorities in Sweden would also be legally obliged to seek the UK’s consent before any extradition could proceed.

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killadoob said:

How can you request extradition for someone that is not in the country? Explain that me please.

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternativ...xtradite-assange-upon-us-request-2455474.html

Sweden have said they will get send him off to the US with a guarantee he won't be executed. Please do yourself and take your own advice. www.google.com

Sweden has confirmed if asked they will hand him over, yet you are saying it is going to be tough for the US to get him LOL. Please dude keep up with the news.

As mentioned they only request extradition when the person is in that country. I thought i would mention it again in case you missed it.

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However, Riddselius then stressed, Sweden cannot guarantee in advance that Assange will not be extradited.

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But, she added, so far her country has not received any extradition request from Washington.

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Not only would Sweden – as a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights – be required to refuse extradition to a third country in circumstances which would breach his human rights,

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copacetic said:

I've been posting about the dinner party and all the twitter stuff in most of the Assange threads for ages...

Oddly, most people seem to ignore it every time I do, go figure.

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daveza said:

Seeing as the UK is also a signatory to the ECHR, how is this any different to the Gary McKinnon extradition ?

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