http://slatest.slate.com/id/2276273/?wpisrc=newsletter
Pentagon To Prosecute WikiLeaks Founder? The U.S. federal government is investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange broke U.S. law by releasing diplomatic documents, reports the Washington Post. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Monday that the Justice Department and Pentagon are pursuing an "active, ongoing criminal investigation" into WikiLeaks' activities. They're training their spotlight not just on Assange, but on anyone who had their hands on the leaked documents at any point. Putting Assange behind bars would not be easy: The First Amendment protections afforded by the Supreme Court have kept past prosecutors from bringing charges under the Espionage Act of 1917. Also, another country would have to agree to extradite Assange, who is currently hiding abroad. Legal observers say, however, that an attempt at prosecution is likely, citing a letter sent by State Department general counsel Harold Koh to Assange the day before the leak. That shot across the bow "put the government in a position to prosecute him," said former CIA general counsel Jeffrey Smith. But if things get hairy for the WikiLeaks founder, he's got one option open to him, the Associated Press reports: Ecuador. On Monday, the country's deputy foreign minister announced that "we are open to giving him residence in Ecuador, without any kind of trouble and without any kind of conditions." Kintto Lucas went on to praise people like Assange, "who are constantly investigating and trying to get light out of the dark corners of (state) information." According to the site, 1,621 cables from the U.S. embassy in Quito have not yet been leaked. Read original story in The Washington Post | Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
