Wikileaks founder loses fight against extradition
LONDON — Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website, lost his appeal in the highest British court against extradition to Sweden on rape and sexual molestation charges.
Assange did not attend the 10-minute judgment handed down by the British Supreme Court, where dozens of supporters waving placards in support of his cause stood outside.
Judge Nicholas Phillips, presiding over the sevenmember panel, told the court the judgment “was not an easy decision to make.”
Assange’s defense argument was that the Swedish prosecutor who issued the European warrant demanding his extradition was not a valid judicial authority.
Phillips told the court that the panel eventually voted 5 to 2 that “the Swedish public prosecutor was a judicial authority and the request for Mr. Assange’s extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed.”
Dinah Rose, Assange’s defense attorney, was given two weeks to consider the judgment, confer with her client, make a further application and possibly reopen the case on a legal point.
The 40-year-old Australian-born Assange is under house arrest in eastern England in the mansion of a supporter. He denies the charges, and his extradition fight is based on the contention that once in Sweden he could be extradited to the U.S. to face charges for leaking State Department documents on the Internet.