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Comment by TheOtherHobbes | Hacker News Reader

He's in the Ecuadorian Embassy, which is beyond the legal reach of the US, the UK, and Sweden.

He jumped bail because the UK was going to deport him to Sweden, and Sweden was likely to deport him to the US, where he'd be Manninged before (eventual) trial.

Jumping bail isn't a crime in the UK. It simply means the gov gets to keep your bail money.

If Sweden drops charges he'll be free to go, unless the UK can manufacture a pretext for extradition (always possible) or the US sweeps him off the street (also possible, but unlikely to make the US popular with European countries who are already unhappy about being spied on.)

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It isn't a crime? You should explain that to the Bail Act 1976 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/63/section/6) amended by the Extradition Act of 2003 because they believe:

"A person who is convicted summarily of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) above [which outline not attending without good reason] and is not committed to the Crown Court for sentence shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both and a person who is so committed for sentence or is dealt with as for such a contempt shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine or to both."

The court and / or the CPS may view that there is no public interest in that, though similarly they may view given the cost to the tax payer of the round the clock surveillance of the embassy he should be made an example of.

I'd be inclined to believe the later.

What law protects him in the Embassy?

A few people in this thread are saying that he's not on English soil; that the embassy is under Ecuadorian law.

That's a myth. Ambassadors get immunity and international politeness means we don't go raiding embassies[1] but Assange is in England, on English soil, subject to English law, and being in some other country's embassy doesn't change that.

[1] unless they hold hostages or shoot our police officers

True. What protects him at the moment are international customs. This is way too small a matter for the UK to risk international backlash by raiding an embassy.

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