WikiLeaks cofounder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden for questioning and possible trial on charges of rape and sexual assault, the British judge Howard Riddle decided in a ruling today.
Riddle said the Swedish prosecutors' request that Assange be handed over was valid and reasonable for their investigation into allegations that he sexually abused two women last August.
The defense team has left no stone unturned in this extradition hearing. They have argued that Swedish prosecutors did not have the authority to issue the European arrest warrant and that what Assange is alleged to have done would not count as serious crimes under British law. Assange's attorneys also called a witness who portrayed the chief prosecutor in the case as a radical feminist with a vendetta against men. Furthermore, the defense argued that Assange would not receive a fair trial in Sweden, where rape trials are usually held behind closed doors and where, defense lawyers said, adverse publicity surrounding the case would prejudice the outcome.
But the judge dismissed all those arguments. Riddle said the arrest warrant was procedurally correct and properly issued. Having sex with someone while she was asleep "would amount to rape" in Britain also. And as for the media attention and remarks in the press about the case, the judge decided "I am absolutely satisfied that no such comments will have any impact on the decisions of the courts, either here or in Sweden."
Riddle said the Swedish prosecutors' request that Assange be handed over was valid and reasonable for their investigation into allegations that he sexually abused two women last August.
The defense team has left no stone unturned in this extradition hearing. They have argued that Swedish prosecutors did not have the authority to issue the European arrest warrant and that what Assange is alleged to have done would not count as serious crimes under British law. Assange's attorneys also called a witness who portrayed the chief prosecutor in the case as a radical feminist with a vendetta against men. Furthermore, the defense argued that Assange would not receive a fair trial in Sweden, where rape trials are usually held behind closed doors and where, defense lawyers said, adverse publicity surrounding the case would prejudice the outcome.
But the judge dismissed all those arguments. Riddle said the arrest warrant was procedurally correct and properly issued. Having sex with someone while she was asleep "would amount to rape" in Britain also. And as for the media attention and remarks in the press about the case, the judge decided "I am absolutely satisfied that no such comments will have any impact on the decisions of the courts, either here or in Sweden."
Assange, who denies the accusations, has seven days to lodge an appeal which should probably drag out the case at least a few more months.
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