Judge orders extradition of Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face rape charges, a British judge ruled yesterday after throwing out defence arguments that he would face an unfair trial.

Lawyers for Mr Assange immediately said they would appeal against the decision, setting up a lengthy legal battle through Britain’s courts that could postpone the 39-year-old Australian’s ultimate fate for months.

“As I am satisfied that extradition is compatible with the defendant’s (European) Convention rights, I must order that Mr Assange be extradited to Sweden,” judge Howard Riddle said.

Speaking after the hearing at the top security Belmarsh Magistrates Court in southeast London, Mr Assange criticised the European system under which he was detained in December at Sweden’s request.

“It is a result of the European Arrest Warrant system run amok. There was no consideration during this entire process as to the merits of the allegations against me,” he told around 100 journalists from across the globe.

“The scrutiny of the European warrant system needs to start now.”

Mr Assange has seven days to lodge a formal appeal. The judge gave him bail on the same conditions as before, namely that he should reside at a friend’s mansion in eastern England, wear an electronic ankle tag and observe a curfew.

Celebrity backers including socialite Jemima Khan and human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger also attended the hearing. Several dozen supporters, some of them in orange Guantanamo Bay-style jumpsuits, demonstrated outside the court.

Mr Assange rocked the world’s diplomatic institutions and infuriated Washington last year when his whistleblowing website began releasing hundreds of thousands of secret US State Department and military documents.

The former computer hacker says the claims against him by two women he met during a seminar organised by WikiLeaks in August last year are politically motivated because of his work.

But judge Riddle dismantled Mr Assange’s case point-by point.

He dismissed claims that the Swedish prosecutor had no power to issue a European arrest warrant and that the allegations did not amount to extradition offences.“In this country that would amount to rape,” judge Riddle said about the allegation by one woman that Mr Assange had unprotected sex with her while she was asleep.

Mr Assange’s Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig made a “deliberate attempt to mislead the court” when he said that he had been unable to contact Mr Assange to arrange an interview with Swedish prosecutors, he added.

Judge Riddle also rejected claims that Mr Assange could not face a fair trial as some evidence would be held behind closed doors, and that it was possible he would be re-extradited to the US where he could face the death penalty.

The judge further said it was “highly unlikely” that comments by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that Mr Assange lacked respect for women’s rights would affect the case.

His lawyer Mark Stephens criticised the “tick-box justice” of the warrant system, but added: “We still remain very optimistic about our opportunities on appeal.”

Claes Borgstrom, the lawyer for the two Swedish women at the centre of the claims, said it was “regrettable” that Mr Assange was appealing but that he hoped the case would be over by summer.

“Assange must respect the principles that he has expressed about WikiLeaks and take responsibility,” he told the Swedish news agency TT.

Mr Assange’s mother said the judge’s order was “political and legal gang rape”.