Defence attorneys for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said he could end up facing the death penalty in the US if the UK extradites him to Sweden, where he is accused of sex crimes.I doubt he'd get the death penalty. But he wouldn't like Leavenworth.
The lawyers fear that Sweden will in turn hand him over to the US.
Following Assange's appearance in a London court on Tuesday, his attorneys published an outline of the defence he will use at a full extradition hearing scheduled for February 7.
"There is a real risk that, if extradited to Sweden, the US will seek his extradition and/or illegal rendition to the USA, where there will be a real risk of him being nabbed at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere" according to a legal memo on the website of the law firm Finers Stephens Innocent.
"Indeed, if Mr Assange were rendered to the USA, without assurances that the death penalty would not be carried out, there is a real risk that he could be made subject to the death penalty."
The Australian citizen, who has angered the US and other states by releasing embarrassing classified US diplomatic cables, is wanted by Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual offences against two women in Sweden last summer.
According to his lawyer, the allegations stem from a dispute over "consensual but unprotected sex".
The legal memo added that if Assange ended up in the US, there is "a real risk" he would be subject to ill-treatment or even torture.
| The risk that he won't be is what disturbs a lot of us. |
As Assange would first have to be extradited from the UK to Sweden, the latter cannot extradite him to a third country unless the UK gives its approval.
Extraditions from Sweden to countries outside the European Union are relatively rare. Between 2007-2009, 14 people were extradited to countries outside the EU and the Nordic Countries.
The Swedish government takes the final decision on extraditions, and can decide not to have a person handed over even if there is legal ground for it. However,
The infamous
However...
the government cannot have someone extradited if the legal requirements are not met.
Under European human rights
... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
conventions, the government cannot extradite a person to a country where the individual may face death penalty or ill-treatment.
Pointing to a dent in Sweden's
The Swedish government was heavily criticised both domestically and by the UN human rights committee for the rough treatment of Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad Al-Zery, who the Swedish intelligence agency suspected of having links to an al-Qaeda affiliated organisation.
Before the deportation, Sweden had negotiated guarantees from Egypt that the men would not be tortured or executed. However,
Another infamous
However...
strong allegations emerged that both men were tortured after they were transported to Egypt in a CIA plane with masked American agents.
If they were masked, they could have been Ruritanians.