It looks like the ongoing plans to extradite the founder of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has turned into a complete farce.
Julian Assange is wanted in Sweden to face trial over alleged rape charges, but he is also wanted by the United States government over the publishing of secret papers on his website.
Assange is currently inside the embassy of Ecuador in London, where he was recently granted asylum. This raises some serious questions. It may puzzle many people who wait for months and even years for asylum, but are often refused yet others get it in double-quick time if they are famous enough. If Assange argues that he is innocent of these alleged rape charges, then he should voluntarily go to Sweden to state his case, not become a fugitive from justice.
The biggest part of this farce was the intervention of the British government, which created a (sort of) diplomatic crisis, and refusing Assange a safe passage out of the country. A typical case of poking one’s nose where it isn’t wanted.
While this situation continues, Assange may certainly lose a few friends over his present actions. However, his own political- and personal- reputation can be regained if he applied the same principles that he sometimes tend to preach on others.