WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face sex offence charges, a judge in London ruled today.
The 39-year-old Australian is accused of sexually assaulting one woman and raping another during a week-long visit to Stockholm in August.
He will appeal against the ruling at the High Court, his barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC told Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in south London in legal argument.
During a two-and-a-half-day extradition hearing earlier this month, Mr Assange’s lawyers argued that if he is sent to Sweden he is likely to face a “secret” trial held behind closed doors. They also claimed extradition would breach his human rights and say he could ultimately be taken against his will to the United States and executed.
Announcing his decision this morning, District Judge Howard Riddle said extraditing Mr Assange to Sweden would not breach his human rights.
He also disagreed with defence lawyers’ claims that what Mr Assange is accused of doing would not actually amount to rape in Britain. And he dismissed the argument that the whistleblower would not receive a fair trial, despite a certain amount of negative publicity surrounding the case.
This publicity includes allegedly damaging comments said to have been made by the Swedish prime minister about Mr Assange. “The defence refer to the alleged denigration of the defendant by the Swedish prime minister,” Judge Riddle said. “For this reason and other reasons it is said Mr Assange will not receive a fair trial. I don’t accept this was the purpose of the comment or the effect.”
Mr Assange denies committing any offences and his supporters claim the criminal inquiry and extradition request are unfair and politically motivated. Mr Assange has angered the US government by releasing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables on his website.
Speaking outside court afterwards, Mr Assange’s lawyer Mark Stephens, said the judge’s decision came as no surprise. “This was, I think, reasonably to be expected,” he said. “It reaffirms the concerns that we had about the form of tick-box justice that is the European Arrest Warrant. What the judge has done is confirm that system is just that.”
Mr Assange and his legal team remain confident that the matter will be resolved in Britain, he added.
Any appeal against the extradition ruling must be lodged in the next seven days.
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies, made by two WikiLeaks volunteers during his time in Sweden last August.
One of the alleged victims accuses Mr Assange of sexually molesting her by ignoring her request for him to use a condom during sex. The second woman has said he had sex with her while she was asleep and that he was not wearing a condom. Prosecutors say the second allegation falls into the least severe of three categories of rape in Sweden, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.
Agencies