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WIKILEAKS ASSANGE LOSES FIGHT AGAINST EXTRADITION
Tert.am
17:28 02.11.11
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange lost a court battle to stay in the
United Kingdom Wednesday and will be extradited to Sweden to face
questioning over sex charges, a court ruled.
According to CNN, appeals court judges Lord Justice John Thomas and
Justice Duncan Ouseley rejected all four of the arguments Assange's
defense team used to fight the extradition.
They will reportedly hold another hearing later this month to determine
whether he can appeal.
Assange, who has been under house arrest for nearly a year while
waiting to find out the results, said Wednesday he will now consider
his next steps.
"I have not been charged with any crime in any country," he said on
the steps of the High Court in London. "Despite this, the European
arrest warrant is so restrictive that it prevents UK courts from
considering the facts of a case, as judges have made clear here today."
Assange is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Sweden in
August 2010. Although he has not been charged with a crime, Swedish
prosecutors want to question him in connection with the allegations.
The court comprehensively rejected his defense against being sent there
to face prosecution, and was particularly scathing about a dispute with
one of the women over whether she had consented to having sex with him.
Swedish authorities allege that the unnamed woman agreed to have sex
with him only if he wore a condom, and that he then had unprotected
sex with her while she was asleep.
"The allegation is that he had sexual intercourse with her when she
was not in a position to consent and so he could not have had any
reasonable belief that she did," the court said.
Assange denies the accusations, saying they are an attempt to smear
him, and he says it would be unfair to send him to a country where
the language and legal system are alien to him. His attorneys have
fought his extradition on procedural and human-rights grounds.
Assange's lawyers have suggested that Sweden would hand him over to the
United States if Britain extradites him. The prosecutor representing
Sweden has dismissed that claim.
The extradition case is not linked to his work as founder and
editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, which has put him on the wrong side of
the US authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Tert.am
17:28 02.11.11
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange lost a court battle to stay in the
United Kingdom Wednesday and will be extradited to Sweden to face
questioning over sex charges, a court ruled.
According to CNN, appeals court judges Lord Justice John Thomas and
Justice Duncan Ouseley rejected all four of the arguments Assange's
defense team used to fight the extradition.
They will reportedly hold another hearing later this month to determine
whether he can appeal.
Assange, who has been under house arrest for nearly a year while
waiting to find out the results, said Wednesday he will now consider
his next steps.
"I have not been charged with any crime in any country," he said on
the steps of the High Court in London. "Despite this, the European
arrest warrant is so restrictive that it prevents UK courts from
considering the facts of a case, as judges have made clear here today."
Assange is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Sweden in
August 2010. Although he has not been charged with a crime, Swedish
prosecutors want to question him in connection with the allegations.
The court comprehensively rejected his defense against being sent there
to face prosecution, and was particularly scathing about a dispute with
one of the women over whether she had consented to having sex with him.
Swedish authorities allege that the unnamed woman agreed to have sex
with him only if he wore a condom, and that he then had unprotected
sex with her while she was asleep.
"The allegation is that he had sexual intercourse with her when she
was not in a position to consent and so he could not have had any
reasonable belief that she did," the court said.
Assange denies the accusations, saying they are an attempt to smear
him, and he says it would be unfair to send him to a country where
the language and legal system are alien to him. His attorneys have
fought his extradition on procedural and human-rights grounds.
Assange's lawyers have suggested that Sweden would hand him over to the
United States if Britain extradites him. The prosecutor representing
Sweden has dismissed that claim.
The extradition case is not linked to his work as founder and
editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, which has put him on the wrong side of
the US authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress