UK, May 30, 2012- Julian Assange, co-founder of Wikileaks, lost extradition case in the British Supreme Court. According to the ruling, Assange will have two weeks to submit an appeal before he is extradited to Sweden where he is accused of rape and sexual assault.
The British Supreme Court in London ruled 5 to 2 against Assange. Although, Assange was not present in court today, many of pro-Assange people camped outside the court to their show support for the anti-secrecy pioneer. Upon hearing the verdict, Assange tweeted "we got the news not hoped for," as reported by BBC News.
Assange, 40, has been under conditional bail since his arrest in December 2010 when two female co-workers at Wikileaks alleged that he had committed these sex crimes. Assange denies these allegations and claims they are politically motivated.
However, today's case has little to do with these allegations, and instead is a question of the validity of the extradition warrant issued to him. Assange's arrest was warranted by prosecutors, not a judge or magistrate. Assange's team argues that according to the European arrest warrant and the Extradition Act of 2003, only "judicial authorities" can establish arrest warrants. These authorities do not include prosecutors and therefore the extradition is not valid.
The Supreme Court disagreed with this argument, but granted Assange's lawyer, Dinah Rose, 14 days to contest the ruling.
Julian Assange rose to fame in 2010 when he leaked a number of US diplomatic cables and videos regarding the war in Iraq and Afghanistan through his co-founded online organization Wikileaks. The organization stirred great derision from Washington and other countries whose secrets were divulged. Assange and his team argue that there is foul play in the alleged sex crimes allegations and that these accusations are sponsored by a number of upset politicians.
