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Comment by andrewfelix | Hacker News Reader

"His money and assets would all be taken from him, he'd be thrown into a cell and possibly tortured."

He isn't in the backwater of Afghanistan, he's in a democratic country with an independent judiciary. What makes you think he would be tortured, let alone killed?

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He seems to suffer from interactions with corrupt police. They could certainly beat the shit out of him after arrest with very few consequences. That's true even in the US.

As an example of special circumstances: how's Bradley Manning's trial coming along?

That's a Logical fallacy. This has nothing to do with Bradley Manning.

As far as you and I know Mcafee quite possibly killed his neighbour. Why shouldn't the authorities in the country where the crime was committed get hold of him?

If the dead neighbour had been an American celebrity, this argument would sound very different.

> This has nothing to do with Bradley Manning.

Yes it has, in the context of the present argument. Grandparent is saying that because you supposedly are in a "democratic country with an independent judiciary" doesn't mean that you won't be tortured/get a fair trial/etc., and uses Bradley Manning as an example of this.

If you are going to call something out as fallacious, you should name which fallacy it is. Otherwise your statement is just as good as saying 'you are wrong!'

Not to sidetrack things, but Manning was not a civilian, and thus does not enjoy the same freedoms under the law as a civilian. So comparing a civilian's (Mcafee's) fate with that of a non-civilian is apples and oranges.

Manning is still supposed to have the right to due process (a speedy trial rather than indefinite detention) and freedom from torture.

Military justice is not the same as civilian justice -one's rights are curtailed. Thst's not to say your assertion is incorrect, rather, it might give the impression one might have rights akin to that a civilian --that, I understand, would be incorrect.

The rights that are relevant to this discussion, primarily the right to not be tortured, is still in full effect for military personnel.

He's had due process for awhile: http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1202/Heari...

That's true, but all humans have the same human rights and he's a human, so the law is largely irrelevant in any discussion regarding ethics and democratic ideals.

Well, a few days ago he testified about the conditions of his incarceration in a pre-trial hearing: http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1202/Heari...

Last time i checked Belize and Guatemala have very poor justice systems.. It's better than Afghanistan but still not first world.

http://www.heritage.org/index/country/guatemala

I'm not going to defend the Belize justice system. But I wouldn't depend on the Heritage Foundation for any objective information. It's a right wing think tank.

Why would that matter? They show their methodology, the "corruption" index is mostly taken from Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, where Belize and Guatemala do not do well.

you say poor justice, how comparable to the poor justice in the USA? would he be tortured without trial? do they have death penalty?

I don't understand why you would assert that he is in a democratic country with an independent judiciary when Belize's corruption index is extremely high. See for yourself (it's near the bottom of the list):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index

The real question is why you would make unfounded claims like that.

Perhaps he should have thought about that before going to live there?

Definitely he should have thought about it before running some sort of drug lab, hanging around with gangsters, and possibly even murdering someone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis

We are talking about a country here where money is king. If you have money, you have clout and influence. There's nothing stopping anyone taking assets and offing him in some remote desolate field where nobody would find him. Considering the amount of attention McAfee has received, if he were to disappear there would be some serious questions so I doubt they'd kill him.

I don't know, would there actually be questions if he disappeared? The guy seems pretty crazy, if he dropped off the face of the earth completely I don't think I would really think much of it.

Now, if he or the government announced that he were captured, then he disappeared, that would certainly be different.

> We are talking about a country here where money is king. If you have money, you have clout and influence.

So... every country?

You think there are no government-driven assassinations even in democraties with "independent" judiciary ? You live in a very safe world, then. This being said, I know nothing about Belize so this comment may or may not apply to that part of the world.

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