Women Against Rape, an organization founded in 1976 to provide legal and emotional support to victims of sexual assault, spoke out against the extradition of Julian Assange in The Guardian.
“Whether or not Assange is guilty of sexual violence, we do not believe that is why he is being pursued,” they write. “Once again women's fury and frustration at the prevalence of rape and other violence, is being used by politicians to advance their own purposes.”
Since no actual charges have been filed against Assange in the Wikileaks case, there’s no legitimate way to extradite him for interrogation on that matter. The rape allegations are a convenient excuse to extradite him, after which point he can be interrogated. And the charges are being treated as just that – a convenient excuse, not legitimate crimes that need to be investigated on their own merit.
“That the US has not presented a demand for his extradition at this stage is no guarantee that they won't do so once he is in Sweden,” the article continues, “and that he will not be tortured.”
If an organization dedicated to getting justice for all rape victims and prosecuting all offenders can see that the accusations against Assange are a smokescreen to distract from the real issues surrounding his arrest and supposed crimes, maybe the rest of the world should wake up, too.
