For a few years now I’ve been blogging about the Julian Assange case, both here, on the LRB Blogsite, and in Lobster (e.g. http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/free/lobster71/lob71-assange-again.pdf). This has been based on my historical interest in ‘Secret Service’ activities, and on my present familiarity, as a Swedish resident, with the Swedish legal system, especially in relation to sex. My general argument has been that the Swedish request to Britain to extradite Assange on suspicion (only) of ‘rape’ was probably ill-founded, and may have been a mere excuse to have him re-extradited from Sweden to the USA on more serious charges of espionage. As a result of this, Assange has been incarcerated in the Ecuadorian embassy – where he sought asylum – for several years now, while Britain still formally abides by the Swedish request to remove him to Sweden for ‘questioning’ if he steps outside.

The following piece by Craig Murray, a former member of the British diplomatic service, corroborates my view all along, and describes the situation vis-à-vis Assange as it is today. Neither the British nor the Swedish government comes well out of this; to my great unease, as both a Briton and a Swedophile. Here’s Craig Murray’s post, from his own blog: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/04/no-rape-charges-julian-assange-sweden-espionage-charges-julian-assange-usa/. Regardless of how we feel about Assange as a person, about his relations with women, and about his political activities, he deserves the same justice as do any of us; which both the British and Swedish legal systems have signally and grotesquely failed to provide.