Court rules WikiLeaks Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault, Britain's supreme court ruled.

|
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange outside the High Court in London. Britain's Supreme Court on Wednesday May 30 ruled that Assange can be extradited to Sweden where he is accused of sex crimes.

[Editor's note: The original version of the story, the above summary incorrectly stated why Sweden wants to extradite Julian Assange. He is wanted for questioning but has not been charged with an offense.]

Britain's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, leaving the Australian with few legal options after an 18-month legal battle.

Judges at Britain's highest court rejected by a majority of 5-2 Assange's argument that a European arrest warrant for his extradition was invalid.

However, the court gave his lawyers two weeks to contest their ruling, and any extradition has been put on hold until Assange decides whether to challenge the judges's decision.

RECOMMENDED: Who is Julian Assange?

Two lower courts had already ruled in favor of the extradition of Assange, a self-styled anti-secrecy campaigner seen as a menace by Washington and other governments.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers. He has been fighting a legal battle against extradition since his arrest in Britain in Dec. 2010.

The former computer hacker gained international prominence in 2010 when WikiLeaks began releasing secret video footage and thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables about Iraq and Afghanistan, in the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history.

That made him a hero to anti-censorship campaigners. But Washington was furious about the release of classified documents.

Assange was not present at the court hearing but WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said he saw Washington's hand in the ruling. "This is not the final outcome. What we have here is retribution from the U.S.," he said.

Assange has faced widespread criticism that he put lives at risk by blowing the cover of sources who spoke to diplomats and intelligence agents in countries where it was dangerous to do so.

WikiLeaks has since faded from the headlines due to a dearth of scoops and a blockade by credit card companies that has made donations to the site almost impossible. Assange's personal standing has been damaged by the Swedish sex case and he has lost support from most of his celebrity backers.

Since his detention, he has mostly been living under strict bail conditions at the country mansion of a wealthy supporter in eastern England. His associates say that amounts to 540 days under house arrest without charge.

Assange's appeal hinges on a legal technicality rather than the substance of the allegations of sexual misconduct or his claims that the United States has been putting pressure on Britain and Sweden to take action against him.

His lawyers argued the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was invalid because it was issued by a prosecutor and not a judge or a court as required in Britain. Prosecutors acting for Sweden say different countries have different legal procedures which are allowable under the agreed EAW format.

EUROPEAN APPEAL POSSIBLE
After Wednesday's ruling the Supreme Court gave Assange two weeks to seek to re-open the case. Assange's lawyers said some of the judges appeared to have based their decision on a legal point that had not been argued in court, preventing them from making a counter-submission.

The flamboyant Australian could also take his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

If he successfully takes up either of those options, he could get the extradition process put back on hold, and it could be months before any conclusive verdict.
Per Samuelson, one of Assange's two Swedish lawyers, said the legal team was still deciding whether to appeal, but he was confident his client would be cleared if he had to go to Sweden.

"I feel a strong conviction that he will, in Sweden, in due time, one way or another, be vindicated - he will be exculpated and acquitted ... I look forward to this with confidence," he told Reuters.

Assange's personal travails have accelerated WikiLeaks' slide towards irrelevance since its heyday.

The suspected source of the site's biggest and most dramatic 2010 leaks, U.S. intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, is now facing 22 criminal charges which, if he is convicted, could land him in jail for life.

Manning's predicament has not encouraged any new sources to come forward.

Instantly recognisable with his unusual white-blond hair, Assange has appeared in an episode of hit U.S. animation show "The Simpsons". He has also launched a talk show on Russia Today, a Kremlin-funded English language TV station.   

 (Additional reporting by Alistair Scrutton and Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Jon Boyle)

RECOMMENDED: Who is Julian Assange?

[Editor's note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated in the summary section why Sweden wants to extradite Julian Assange.]

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Court rules WikiLeaks Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0530/Court-rules-WikiLeaks-Julian-Assange-can-be-extradited-to-Sweden
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe