Assange to be extradited to Sweden

[Serpo]

Assange to be extradited to Sweden
Julian Assange arriving at court Mr Assange will appeal against the extradition ruling, his lawyer told the court
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Wikileaks Revelations

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations, a judge has ruled.

Mr Assange will appeal at the High Court against the ruling, delivered at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in London, following a hearing two weeks ago.

The 39-year-old denies three allegations of sexual assault and one of rape last August in Stockholm.

Mr Assange says the claims are politically motivated because of the work of his whistle-blowing website.

Wikileaks has made headlines worldwide with the publication of sensitive material from governments and high-profile organisations, including leaked US diplomatic cables.

Mr Assange was arrested on 7 December under a European Arrest Warrant, and spent nine days in Wandsworth prison before being released on bail.

During the hearing two weeks ago, Mr Assange's lawyer argued that rape trials in Sweden were regularly "tried in secret behind closed doors in a flagrant denial of justice".
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“Start Quote

Judge said there was no evidence that #Assange would be extradited to US for torture as a traitor”

End Quote BBC's Anna Adams tweeting from court


Geoffrey Robertson QC also said his client could later be extradited to the US on separate charges relating to Wikileaks, and could face the death penalty there.

Clare Montgomery QC, for the Swedish authorities, told the hearing that evidence from a trial would be heard in private but the arguments would be made in public.

In response to the suggested risk of extradition to the US and a possible death penalty, she said Sweden provided "protection against that sort of threat and violation" taking place.

The European Court of Human Rights would intervene if Mr Assange was to face the prospect of "inhuman or degrading treatment or an unfair trial" in the US, she said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12564865

[Glass]

Ancient code used in Assange's last stand

For more than four hours in the British Supreme Court yesterday, there were references to complex European law and citations from 14th and 15th-century texts.

For more than four hours in the UK Supreme Court yesterday, there were references to complex European law, citations from 14th and 15th-century texts, and a quote from the Codex Iustinianus, dated 376 AD, all of which lawyers used in an effort save Julian Assange from extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault involving two women.

There were utterings in court in German, French and Latin as Assange's barrister, Dinah Rose, presented her case to six Lords and a Lady, all judges of the Court, that the arrest warrant under which Assange faces extradition is flawed.

The Court normally provides five judges for appeals, but decided on seven for the controversial Assange case "given the great public importance of the issue raised". They are expected to give a written verdict a few weeks after the hearing ends today.

This appeal is considered to be Assange's last stand against the extradition that has been upheld by one British court. If his appeal fails, he could get permission to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

But Ms Rose did everything she could yesterday to convince the judges that to send Assange to Sweden would be a great injustice.

Her delivery and responses to the Court were more polished and assured than those of Clare Montgomery, QC, who presented the Swedish case for only 30 minutes before the court was adjourned until today.

The Roman codex used by Rose to assist the Australian-born Assange, a one-time computer hacker and founder of WikiLeaks, says: "We decree by general law that no one ought to be his own judge or to administer justice in his own cause. For it is very unjust to give somebody permission to pass judgment in his own cause."

And that is the kernel of the defence that Ms Rose presented on behalf of Assange, who is fighting extradition on the basis that the European Arrest Warrant used by a Swedish prosecutor is invalid in law.

The prosecutor, Ms Rose told the Court, was not a "judicial authority" (a judge or someone with similar powers) within the meaning of the Extradition Act 2003 and therefore could not issue a valid warrant.

The prosecutor, she added, in her "adversarial relationship" with Assange, lacked the required impartiality and independence to be involved in issuing a warrant.

Ms Montgomery, who rejected Ms Rose's assertion that prosecutors could not be impartial in terms of issuing warrants because they were so involved in the cases, came under more intense questioning from the judges than Ms Rose.

Full story @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/world/lawyers-use-ancient-code-in-assanges-last-stand-20120202-1quj0.html)

[Glass]

]Assange celebrity backers in forfeit[/SIZE]

"LEFTERATI" who helped to put up £200,000 ($A310,000) bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, including socialite Jemima Khan and Australian journalist John Pilger, have lost their money.
Assange has been in hiding in the Ecuadorean embassy in Knightsbridge since June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault claims. Assange is resisting because he fears he could then be extradited to the US and face the death penalty over publication of confidential diplomatic cables and other documents on his website.

A court clerk told reporters at a hearing yesterday that the backers will not get their £200,000 back because it had been forfeited in July. They were believed to have included film directors Ken Loach and Michael Moore.

The court hearing was to determine the fate of an additional £140,000 offered as a guarantee that Assange would not jump bail. Nine backers of this amount, known legally as sureties, were granted another month to argue their case by district judge Howard Riddle.


This group includes former Sunday Times journalist Philip Knightley; Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club for journalists; Sir John Sulston, a Nobel prize-winning biologist; and the owners of the two addresses at which Assange stayed while on bail.

Judge Riddle said they must persuade Assange to surrender if they wanted their money back.

Henry Blaxland, QC, argued that they could not be expected to persuade Assange to give himself up until the diplomatic feud between countries including Britain and Ecuador was resolved.

But Judge Riddle said: "I am not persuaded that any reasonable surety would not make every effort, both publicly and privately, to persuade Mr Assange to give himself up to the UK authorities."

He said that it was "absolutely striking" that none of the sureties had turned up to the hearing. "One can understand that somebody is in Afghanistan, somebody else is on their summer holidays. We have no explanation from the others."

The surety hearing was adjourned until October 3.


Article @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/world/assange-celebrity-backers-in-forfeit-20120905-25epd.html)

[Ponce]

He can always go to where all the criminals go to in order to be safe......the state of Israel.......is he a Jew? hummmmm, I don't think so.........wellllllllllllllll he can also go to Cuba, he knows spanish, right?