Bail has been granted to Julian Assange by the court in England. Image: New Media Days/Flickr.com/CC-BY-SA
After rampant speculation and numerous motions, bail has been granted to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by court order. He will be subject to remote monitoring and will have to check in with police daily. Whether Assange will be extradited to Sweden remains to be determined.
Bail for Assange by court order
Bail has been secured to Julian Assange in court, according to the New York Times. A warrant was issued in Sweden for Assange’s arrest and extradition, although he hasn’t been charged with a crime. However, last week he agreed to surrender to Scotland Yard and was taken into custody. Since then, friends and supporters — including controversial American filmmaker and political activist Michael Moore — have been trying to secure his bail, which had been previously denied. However, he has been granted conditional bail after several friends offered a surety — a legal guarantee of funds — of about 200,000 pounds or $380,000. Assange will have to check in with police daily by 6 p.m., will have an electronic monitoring device on his ankle and cannot attempt to leave Britain. His passport will not be released by the court.
Strange charges
Julian Assange, controversial founder of WikiLeaks, is wanted in connection with rape allegations in Sweden, though he hasn’t been formally charged with a crime. Swedish law concerning crimes of a sexual nature is far more complex than in other countries. A person may be guilty of certain rape charges even if all sexual acts that took place were entirely consensual. His lawyer has argued that since the charges are not considered crimes in England, he shouldn’t be extradited, according to The Telegraph. After Assange was granted bail, an appeal against it was lodged on behalf of the Swedish government, so he won’t be released for a few more days.
Bailing for Columbine
The pledge for bail surety that has been getting the most online attention is that of filmmaker Michael Moore, director of “Fahrenheit 9/11″ and “Bowling for Columbine.” According to Fox News, Moore pledged $20,000 toward bail for Assange. Other contributors to Assange’s bail include journalists John Pilger and Gavin MacFayden, filmmaker Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Kahn.
Great news! You know, I’ve been politically aware for a few decades now and it keeps hitting me what a huge deal this wikileaks thing is. Having watched the mainmedia become a sorry, neutered lap dog of the status quo for so long it’s like a shining monkey wrench has been thrown into the rotten works. Everything has become so opaque that such a sudden shot of transparency almost feels like a ghostly apparition has emerged and sent a chill down the spine of secrecy and privilege.