Assange Extradition Appeal Kicks Off In UK Top Court & Sweden Unbiased?

The world's top whistleblower has taken his long legal battle to stay in the UK to the country's Supreme Court, where he is appealing extradition to Sweden. Julian Assange is wanted on allegations of sexual assault dating back to August 2010, which he denies. The Wikileaks founder insists the case is politically motivated, and a response to his website publishing secret U.S. cables on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Source

This Morning:

The founder of WikiLeaks is to appeal his extradition to Sweden at Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday. Julian Assange is accused of committing sex crimes against two women in 2010. Assange insists the charges are politically motivated. The Supreme Court hearings are expected to last for two days with a verdict being delivered some weeks later, Reuters news agency reports. Assange’s lawyers argue that back in December 2010 the famous whistleblower was detained on an invalid arrest warrant. If the Supreme Court rejects his appeal, Julian Assange might take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Julian Assange's exposure of tens of thousands of secret documents via the WikiLeaks website embarrassed governments the world over. Assange and his supporters maintain that it is this, rather the sexual assault allegations, which is motivating Swedish prosecutors.

“He is the person with the most pivotal role in that historic event [the leaks], and then there are the questions of his sexual misconduct in Sweden and what kind of legal consequences that will have for him,” said anthropologist Brian Palmer. “Those two stories have intersected in a kind of extraordinary melodrama.”

The Swedish authorities want to question Assange over allegations of sexual assault against two former female WikiLeaks volunteers dating back to August 2010. Prosecutors have been criticized by Assange’s supporters and international civil liberties groups, with allegations of a cumbersome, contradictory and slow legal process. 

Huge arguments have also broken out over the nature of some of Sweden's laws on sexual offences, which would not carry criminal charges in several European countries. All of this has led some to question whether Assange will get a fair trial in Sweden.

“The chief prosecutor asked for him to be held in solitary confinement. It is just bizarre,” says James D. Catlin, the Melbourne barrister who acted for Julian Assange in October. “There are so many bizarre aspects to the way the matter has been conducted up till now that from my perspective, I just cannot see how he would get a fair trial.” 

Others have gone beyond legal arguments, saying that the storm raised by Julian Assange through WikiLeaks has made him a target for political interference. It is a charge which has met with anger from senior figures in Sweden's legal establishment.

“Political reasons are ridiculous,” said Sven-Erik Alhem, a former Swedish prosecutor. “I am very, very tired of hearing anything about that, because so many statements have been made in London and elsewhere about political reasons and that is ridiculous, nothing less than ridiculous.” 

However others point to wider trends, trends as wide as those washed over by the WikiLeaks flood itself. Across the Atlantic, US authorities enraged at having their secret documents exposed, might seek to have Assange extradited there to stand trial. 

Surely Sweden's famed neutrality would prevent such a thing?

“I would disagree as to whether Sweden is a neutral country,” Stockholm University professor Marcello Vittorio Nori told RT. “Sweden has a very clear-cut proximity and collaboration, even in military operations such as campaigns initiated by NATO. You have, for instance, the Swedish presence in Afghanistan.

“You have a clear-cut pro-NATO policy on the part of Sweden and that is not neutrality,” Professor Nori added.  

With some US politicians branding Assange a cyber-terrorist and calling for the death penalty, things could get a lot worse for the WikiLeaks founder. Which brings us back to that website, its enemies and its supporters. 

“The problem is not that we have too much WikiLeaks – we have too little. I think most people agree with that,” said Al Burke of Nordic News Network. “International public opinion polls indicate that very large majorities applaud and support the efforts of WikiLeaks.” 

The wider worry is that with or without Julian Assange, governments around the world with something to hide will now launch full-scale assaults on Internet freedom in order to keep their secrets secret. Still, for now, the focus is on the man, not his website.

Julian Assange's connections with Sweden have raised many questions about what really happened in August 2010. However, with Assange's future as uncertain as ever, questions are being leveled at Sweden's legal system and its relationship with the United States which could prove crucial to the fate of the world's most notorious whistleblower.

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