Tug of war likely over Assange as Swedish rape case is revived
SWEDISH prosecutors will ask Britain to extradite Julian Assange after they decided to reopen a rape investigation against him, setting the stage for a three-way diplomatic tug of war over the jailed Wikileaks founder.
Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, will now have to decide whether to give priority to Sweden or the United States, which has already requested the extradition of Assange on charges of hacking into Pentagon computers.
The US administration is expected to argue that the crime Assange has already been charged with is serious and warrants extradition to America.
It is understood figures in the Trump administration are stressing that, unlike America, Sweden is yet to formally request extradition and its case is only at the investigation stage.
Eva-marie Persson, deputy chief prosecutor of Sweden, said yesterday that prosecutors planned to issue a European arrest warrant requesting Assange’s extradition from Britain. “There is still a probable cause to suspect Assange committed a rape,” she said. “It is my assessment that a new questioning of Assange is required.”
Assange, 47, is in Belmarsh prison
‘There is still a probable cause to suspect Assange committed a rape. A new questioning is required’
serving 50 weeks for breaching bail when he fled to the Ecuadorean embassy seven years ago, and awaiting the outcome of the extradition proceedings launched by the US.
He denies claims that he conspired with Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst, to steal a vast tranche of secret military and diplomatic documents later published on Wikileaks. A British judge has given the US until June 12 to outline its case.
If Mr Javid chooses the US over Sweden, he will face an angry backlash for suggesting computer hacking is more serious than rape. If he picks Sweden, he risks upsetting Britain’s closest ally before Donald Trump’s state visit.
Per Samuelson, Assange’s Swedish lawyer, said his client wanted to clear his name and was happy to cooperate with Sweden, but added: “How that will happen now, I don’t know. He has his hands full with, for him, much more important issues, namely avoiding being extradited to the US.”
A cross-party group of more than 70 MPS has previously told Mr Javid to extradite Assange to Sweden if authorities there request it.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP leading the campaign, told The Telegraph that the Swedish case should take priority over the US request because the rape allegation would become time-barred in August next year.