Assange takes case to England’s top court

Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange await his arrival at the Supreme Court in central London, yesterday

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took his 13-month fight against extradition to Sweden to England’s highest court yesterday.
Seven judges are hearing the 40-year-old Australian’s appeal over two days at the Supreme Court and are not expected to return their judgement for several weeks.
Assange, who has been living on bail under virtual house arrest while awaiting the outcome of his case, denies the rape allegations made by two women in Sweden, and insists the sex was consensual.
If the court rejects his appeal, the former computer hacker will have exhausted all his options in Britain but he could still make a last-ditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, prosecutors have said.
Assange arrived at the court in London in bright winter sunshine, as a peace activist outside sang “he shall be released”.
The appeal is likely to focus on the legal issue of whether the Swedish prosecutor who issued the European arrest warrant for Assange in December 2010 was a valid judicial authority.
WikiLeaks has enraged Washington by leaking thousands of classified US documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, causing Assange to insist the extradition proceedings are politically motivated.
While the legal battle has dragged on, Assange’s celebrity status has grown – he is to host his own TV show and will make an appearance as himself later this month on the 500th episode of the US cartoon show Simpsons.
Announcing the chat show, WikiLeaks described Assange as “one of the world’s most recognisable revolutionary figures” and promised interviews with “key political players and thinkers”.
WikiLeaks claims it has secured licensing commitments covering more than 600 million viewers across cable, satellite and terrestrial networks.
If this appeal fails, the WikiLeaks founder will have only one other option to stop his extradition -- an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
“If the ECHR takes the case then his current bail conditions would remain in force and he would remain in the UK until the proceedings at the ECHR have concluded,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a commentary on the case.
“If the ECHR declines to take the case then he will be extradited to Sweden as soon as arrangements can be made,” England’s state prosecutor said.