Julian Assange to Fight Extradition

Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange arrives at the High Court in London for his extradition

Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle blower website WikiLeaks, is once more in court to fight expulsion to Sweden on the basis of accusations of sexual abuse against him.

Assange, responsible for leaking scores of confidential US documents, has angered the Pentagon and excited critics of the American foreign policy. However, the allegations against him over the molestation of two women during a visit to Scandinavia last year have tainted his reputation causing many to doubt his future.

Assange is appealing the decision taken by the London High Court that ordered him back to Sweden for interrogation. His lawyer Ben Emmerson agreed that the said women may have found the experience with his client “disrespectful, discourteous or disturbing.” However, Emmerson argued that the act was completely consensual and legal as par with the English law.

“The conduct that is complained of would not constitute a crime in this jurisdiction,” he said.

The accusations against him go back to August 2010 when Assange had just made sensitive US documents public concerning the war in Afghanistan. He, then, got involved with the two women who both accused him of sexual abuse later on.

Even though, he has not been charged by the Swedish authorities, he is wanted in the country for interrogation on the case. Assange, however, insists on answering all questions from Britain claiming that the case is being dragged for political reasons, mainly, to send him to the US where a jury is in the process of investigating the WikiLeaks website.

The appeal contained detailed explanations of the sexual act between Assange and the two women, many of which contradicted with the original testimony by the women.

“She may not have enjoyed what was going on,” said Emmerson but there was nothing illegal about it. And about the accusations, that Assange had had sex with a woman who was asleep, Emmerson said that she’d consented to the act.

Speaking at an interview earlier, Assange criticized the harsh conditions of his bail that forced him to wear an electronic tag, report to the police and stay at home after dark.

The website has not published any new content for a while now, even though the last release in April made hundreds of confidential documents public about inmates held at the Guantanamo Bay.

The appeal is supposed to end on Wednesday and judgment is said to be reserved. That means the result will not be revealed to the public for a few days or even weeks. If the appeal is rejected, Assange promises to take the case to Britain’s Supreme Court or even the European Court of Human Rights.

Related posts: