Assange wins latest round of legal battle
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Xinhua, December 6, 2011
Wikileaks website founder Julian Assange won leave from the English High Court on Monday to ask the country's Supreme Court to examine his bid to avoid extradition from Britain to Sweden, where authorities want to question him about sexual assault charges raised by two women.
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Wikileak founder Julian Assange addresses the press after being granted permission to petition the UK Supreme Court, outside the High Court in London, Britain, Dec. 5, 2011. Assange won the right to petition the UK Supreme Court in his fight against extradition to Sweden over alleged sex offences on Monday, after losing his High Court appeal last month. [Xinhua] |
Assange, the 40-year-old Australian who runs the wikileaks website which has angered the U.S. authorities by publishing millions of secret diplomatic cables on the Internet, has been fighting a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by authorities in Sweden for a year.
The Swedish authorities want to question Assange about an allegation of rape raised by one woman, and of sexual coercion by a second woman, which the two women claim happened on his visit to the Scandinavian country in 2010.
As he left the court Assange told waiting journalists, "The High Court has decided that an issue that arises from my own case is of general public importance and may be of assistance to other cases and should be heard by the Supreme Court. The long struggle for justice for me and for others continues."
Assange was critical of the extradition process, "Extradition safeguards are a concern to many people. There are many aggrieved families in Britain and in other countries in Europe who are struggling for justice."
Two leading judges in the High Court backed part of Assange's appeal. They said they would allow one of two questions posed by his lawyers to be put to the Supreme Court, because it was of sufficient public importance. The question is whether an EAW can be issued by a public prosecutor.
Assange argues that it cannot. The Supreme Court will now decide if it will hear Assange's case, but it is not under an obligation to do so.
Assange went into hiding in Europe after the allegations were made by the two women, fearing that his return to Sweden would lead eventually to his extradition to the United States to face the anger of the authorities over his publishing of the diplomatic cables.
He surrendered to police in London at the end of 2010, and was initially held in prison. After a series of court appearances Assange was granted bail, on strict conditions including a curfew and his agreement to live in a fixed place.
Throughout 2011 he has fought a high-profile and expensive battle through successively higher courts to avoid extradition, and has lost at each stage.
His legal options are now nearly exhausted, and Assange will be pinning his hopes on the Supreme Court agreeing to hear his case, and then on backing his appeal.
Assange now has 14 days to submit his written appeal to the Supreme Court and is now likely to remain in Britain until at least the early New Year.
