WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange to be Extradited
WikiLeaks founder and Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange has lost his attempt to block an extradition order to extradite him from the United Kingdom. The Appeals court judges Lord Justice John Thomas and Justice Duncan Ouseley rejected all four arguments that his defense team used for their case.
The 40-year-old Assange has been under house arrest for nearly a year and on the steps outside the court house said that he is currently “considering his next step.”
There is one last option that Assange can pursue; the court will hold a hearing later this month to determine if a further appeal can be made.
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The Guardian is reporting that in order to appeal again “Assange must persuade the judges there is a wider issue of ‘public importance’ at stake in the latest decision.”
If he is able to do this the extradition case could go in front of the Supreme Court.
Swedish authorities want to question Assange concerning allegations of sexual assault against two women in August of 2010.
Assange decided to fight the case when, in February, a Judge at the Belmarsh Magistrate court ordered him to be extradited. He insists that it is unfair to send him to Sweden where the language and legal system are different than what he is used to.
The extradition hearing is not linked to the publication of confidential materials or diplomatic cables which gave Assange international notoriety. The 250,000 documents published so far caused wide spread embarrassment for the U.S. government and raised national security concerns, specifically concerning the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The judges ruled that the European arrest warrant that was issued followed protocol and was “proportionate” to extradition proceedings. They also rejected Assange’s claim that the arrest warrant was issued by a prosecutor and not a “judicial authority.”
Assange’s defense team has argued that Sweden would hand him over to American authorities; a statement that Swedish prosecutors deny.
Wiki-leaks Founder Fights Extradition to Sweden
