WikiLeaks founder set to continue legal battle - Summary

Wed, 15 Dec 2010

London/Stockholm- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was Wednesday facing the next stage in his battle to be freed from custody in Britain against "vigorous objections" from Sweden.

The High Court in London will hear an appeal by lawyers representing Swedish prosecutors Thursday, two days after the 39-year-old Australian was granted conditional bail by a magistrates' court in the British capital.

Assange is wanted in Sweden on allegations of sex offenses against two women, which he denies. He was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant, issued by Sweden, on December 7, and is being held at Wandsworth prison in London.

A judge at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court ruled Tuesday that he should be set free against the cash payment of a bail sum of 200,000 pounds (315,000 dollars), plus two sureties of 20,000 pounds.

But, within minutes of the British bail ruling, lawyers for Swedish prosecutors lodged their appeal, arguing that Assange was a "flight risk" on account of his "nomadic lifestyle."

Lawyer Gemma Lindfield, acting for the Swedish authorities, reminded the court that Assange had been placed in custody after his arrest last week because he was considered to be a flight risk.

"It's submitted that nothing has changed since last week to allay the court's fears in this regard," she said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Swedish prosecution agency in Stockholm said the decision to appeal was made by the British legal counsel appointed by the court in London.

"They took the decision, they were not in touch with us," spokesman Fredrik Berk told the German Press Agency dpa.

Presiding judge Howard Riddle, while granting bail, remarked that his decision was taken "despite very vigorous objections."

"These are serious allegations of sexual assault. Mr Assange has the means of flight and his ties to this country are far from strong," said Riddle.

The move to appeal against bail was condemned by supporters of Assange, who alleged that there was a "secret political agenda" behind the Swedish request for his extradition - given the Australian's international notoriety over the recent leaks of masses of confidential US diplomatic cables.

"The suggestion that he is a flight risk is faintly ludicrous," Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Wednesday. An electronic tag, which his client would have to wear under bail conditions, would allow the authorities to "locate him 24 hours a day."

"One has to ask oneself why are the Swedish authorities so dead-set that he will spend Christmas in jail? Do they have the genes of Scrooge?" asked Stephens.

Bail conditions require Assange to surrender his passport to the police and to observe a curfew, monitored by an electronic tag.

Assange, who was in hiding in Britain for several weeks before he turned himself in at a London police station earlier this month, told the court that he would have a residential address in Britain - a main precondition for bail.

He would be living on the country estate in Norfolk, south-east England, of Vaughan Smith, a wealthy farmer and former Colonel in the British army. Smith runs the London Frontline Club, a center he founded in 2003 to promote independence and transparency in journalism.

Reports from Tuesday's court proceedings said that Assange's initial reluctance to disclose details of his future residential address in Britain were rebutted by the judge who said such behavior would fly in the face of the transparency promoted by WikiLeaks.

Meanwhile, Stephens told the BBC Wednesday that efforts to raise the bail money were going well.

Prominent donors and backers included filmmakers Michael Moore and Ken Loach, author Hanif Kureishi, novelist Tariq Ali and human rights activist Bianca Jagger and Jemima Khan, the ex-wife of former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan. The general public had also given money.

Meanwhile in Sweden, Berg confirmed that the prosecuting authority had filed a new police complaint after their website unexpectedly went down overnight for the second time in a week. It was up and running again Wednesday morning.

A loose grouping of cyber activists known as Anonymous claimed late Tuesday they had staged the attack, but Berg said no group had contacted the authority, and no sensitive information had been compromised.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358353,legal-battle%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0-summary.html.