Did Julian Assange deserve bail?

The controversial WikiLeaks mastermind will likely be released from jail after winning bail in the U.K. Is it right to let him free?

Julian Assange, photographed inside a prison van, returns to Wandsworth Prison after being granted conditional bail by the London courts.
(Image credit: Getty)

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange was granted bail in a British court Tuesday, but will remain in jail for up to two days while Sweden appeals the decision. If bail is allowed, Assange will be under what his lawyer calls "manor arrest" at a wealthy supporter's sweeping estate, obliged to wear an electronic monitoring device and check in with police each evening. Several socialites and celebrities, including filmmaker Michael Moore, pledged to cover Assange's $315,000 bail surety. Is Britain right to let Assange out? (Watch a Russia Today report about Assange's release)

This isn't justice: If Britain wants to free a man accused of forcing sex on a sleeping woman, I can't stop them, says Kevin Huffman in The Washington Post. But why on earth would Moore and other "gullible" Americans "personally pay" to help Assange resume his attacks on global diplomacy? "Putting up bail money for an accused rapist you don't know simply because you like his politics" is "jack-assery," not justice.

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