Secondly, the applicable law (Lag (1957:668) om utlämning för brott) gives the power to extradite foreign nationals to the cabinet, makinging it a political decision. Having a center-right cabinet takes us from "no way!" to "possible", but the general feeling I get is that the public would be against such an extradition, making it harder for the cabinet to do it.
From the American side they'll probably have problems putting together an indictment that can't be read as everyone publishing the leaks are violating the law. I can't see that the justice department would willingly open up that Pandora's box since that would mean that every news outlet in the US would be just as guilty as Wikileaks. They would have to show that only the "leaker" (i.e. Manning) and the first to publish (Wikileaks) are breaking the law. I think I've read that there has never been a successful case against someone publishing classified information in the US.
Don't take legal advice from me though - I'm just a software designer and has never taken a legal course in my life! :)
- Personally, I'm just a guy earning very little from doing not too much at all and no, I don't wish to see him hang.
Yet, the very idea of prosecution, besides finding out what the suspect has done, is that there always is one or another motive for every action.
We all know what Assange has done.
But in what purpose has he attacked the security of America?
I hope he did not “mean” to sabotage America's diplomatic connections to the rest of the World.