Assange is still a political prisoner

HIS OWN ROOM with an en suite toilet of sorts is still awaiting Julian Assange after Sweden appealed the decision by the Westminster magistrates court to grant him bail.

Despite the judge agreeing to a £240,000 surety bail from his wealthy friends, a proposed curfew of 10am to 2pm and 10pm to 2am, electronic monitoring while under house arrest and a daily report to a police station at 6pm, it wasn't enough for Sweden.

The Swedish government is clearly not prepared to take a chance on Assange and it just wants the legal process to be winner takes all, as Abba might have put it.

Now Assange gets to go back into solitary confinement where, according to his lawyer Mark Stephens, he can't even read a newspaper. Over the next 48 hours the Swedes have to make the case that Assange should not get bail for the duration of his extradition hearings. That should be interesting considering the evident farce that has been the five month Swedish investigation.

If the Swedes do win, the UK, and very likely the Swedish government, might expect to be targeted by heavy Denial-of-Service attacks and hacking attempts for weeks if not months to come. A groundswell of public support for Assange has developed over the past week that, however misguided its tactics might be, is founded on the revulsion that ordinary people have for government censorship, lack of transparency and the suppression of press freedom.

However, even if the Swedes had not lodged an appeal, the practicalities of collecting and paying the £240,000 bail meant that Assange would still have been staying at Her Majesty's pleasure for a at least a few more days anyway. µ

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