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20 Oct, 2015 15:23

British authorities possibly 'scared of what Assange has'

British authorities possibly 'scared of what Assange has'

It could be easier for the UK to leave Assange in prison than in the Ecuadorian Embassy for three years, he is kind of giving himself his own sentence in a way, political satirist Tiernan Douieb told RT.

READ MORE: Julian Assange may launch fresh appeal in light of Swedish-UK emails

Lawyers for Julian Assange are considering launching a new appeal against the whistleblower’s Swedish arrest warrant. It follows a number of revelations which came to light in correspondence between prosecutors in Britain and Sweden.

Messages between the Crown Prosecution Authority (CPS) and Swedish prosecutor show the parties were “more interested in winning the case [against Assange] than finding the truth.”

RT: What do the revelations tell us about the true intentions of both the UK and Sweden?

Tiernan Douieb: It’s quite confusing, because we heard only a few months ago that Assange was costing the UK tax payer about £11 million just for being stuck in the Ecuadorian Embassy with all the security. But they also do not seem that eager to get rid of him. So I can only assume that maybe it is easier for us leave him in prison than the Ecuadorian Embassy for three years; he has kind of given himself his own sentence in a way.

RT: In the correspondence it can be seen that British prosecutors offered Assange to their Swedish counterparts as a Christmas present. Let's listen to the voiced extract.  What do you make of it?

TD: That’s a very strange Christmas present, isn’t it? I do understand there is obviously various problems if you have Swedish investigators in the Ecuadorian Embassy on UK soil, the kind of international law conflict there is going to be difficult and will need working out. But yes, you would have thought they’d just go ahead and release him. There is obviously some reason why they want to keep him there, even though they have now removed police security from outside the Ecuadorian Embassy and the Met has said they want to go for more covert operations to get him, which it presumably means they’ll just have police across the road instead maybe. But, yes, it is very curious indeed.  

RT

RT: In another email, a British lawyer seems to be pleased that the press weren't excited about one of the extradition hearings. Why does he seem happy that it wasn't attracting attention?

TD: Because I think that means it might get ignored for a little while. It’s probably going to be quite a lengthy process to kind of organize, so that means he can stay in his rather comfy Ecuadorian Embassy for a little bit longer. Although, from what I’ve read, Scandinavian prisons are quite comfy as well.

RT: The Metropolitan police report over £12 million has been spent guarding the Ecuadorian Embassy. So why did they carry on spending when Swedish prosecutors could have travelled to London and got the case moving?

TD: That is the thing that I find very curious as well as we could just hand him over and get him taken to Sweden instead of spending all of this money. I’m presuming there is got to be some reason. Maybe they are scared of what Assange has. I mean WikiLeaks hasn’t really done anything particularly important for the last few years. But maybe there is some information that he has and they want to be careful about it just in case. It is a little bit of power, isn’t it: We’ve got Assange in our security it gives us kind of a little bit of power over Sweden in some way. I don’t know why we’d need it for any particular reason. But that can be the only reason; otherwise, they’d surely just get rid of him as quickly as possible.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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