Julian Assange UK arrest warrant is still valid, court rules in blow to freedom bid - Telegraph

Julian Assange UK arrest warrant is still valid, court rules in blow to freedom bid

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6 FEBRUARY 2018 • 2:21PM

The British arrest warrant against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still valid, a court has ruled in a blow to his fresh bid for freedom.

He has been living inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than five years following a sex assault-related case brought by the Swedish prosecutors.

Those investigations have since been dropped, so Mr Assange maintained the arrest warrant - under which he would be detained for breaching his former bail conditions if he left the embassy - was no longer valid.

His lawyers made an application at Westminster Magistrates' Court last month for the UK warrant to be withdrawn, saying it had "lost its purpose and its function".

Senior district judge Emma Arbuthnot gave her ruling on Tuesday afternoon, although either side can appeal against the decision.

Mr Assange believes he will be extradited to the United States if he leaves the embassy for questioning about the activities of WikiLeaks.

His lawyers point out that the UK authorities refuse to confirm or deny whether or not a US extradition warrant has been received.

Mr Assange entered the embassy in June 2012 after skipping bail. Last month, the court heard he was suffering from depression, a frozen shoulder and toothache.

Who is Julian Assange?

by Henry Samuel and Harriet Alexander

Julian Assange - born Julian Paul Hawkins on July 3 1971 - is the founder of WikiLeaks, a website set up to allow whistleblowers to release anonymous documents.

The 45-year-old Australian computer hacker started the site in 2006.

But it was not until the publication of information about the US military, leaked by Chelsea Manning, that WikiLeaks and its editor-in-chief became household names.

Among the leaks were a video entitled Collateral Murder, showing unarmed Iraqis being gunned down by an American helicopters; the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, which revealed the true human cost of the conflicts; and over 250,000 diplomatic cables, which shone an uncomfortable spotlight on US foreign policy.

Assange speaks during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy

Julian Assange speaks during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2014 CREDIT: REUTERS

Mr Assange has since been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report on toxic waste dumping on the Ivory Coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay detention camp procedures and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer.

His work brought him international fame - at one point, there were five major films about WikiLeaks in development. Two were eventually made: We Steal Secrets, a documentary, and The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Mr Assange spoke out against both films, and in a letter to Cumberbatch said that The Fifth Estate "vilifies and marginalises a living political refugee to the benefit of an entrenched, corrupt and dangerous state".

He travelled the world speaking about WikiLeaks and his work, and became something of a hero to anti-establishment activists.

How did he end up inside the Ecuadorian embassy?

The saga began in Sweden. Mr Assange was in the country in August 2010 to speak at a conference.

While he was there, he met two women and had sex with them. They later filed complaints of rape and molestation - accusations that he denied. Mr Assange was questioned but never charged and left the country.

On November 20, Interpol issued a Red Notice for Mr Assange's arrest. A week later he gave himself up, appeared before a judge in Westminster, and in December 2010 was granted bail after his supporters paid £240,000 in cash and sureties.

Legal wrangling in the UK continued until June 2012, with the Swedish prosecutors calling for him to be extradited, and Mr Assange's lawyers saying that if he was sent to Sweden he would be at risk of then being extradited to the US.

Assange gives a press conference on the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in Knightsbridge in Feb 2016

On June 19, 2012, he fled bail and applied for asylum in Ecuador, through the embassy in Knightsbridge. But police encircled the embassy and refused to allow him to leave: the UK says its courts have ruled he must be sent to Sweden.

Ecuador granted him asylum in August 2012. He has been inside the embassy ever since.

"I am entirely innocent," Assange wrote in a 19-page testimony released in December 2016.

He argues that the sex was consensual and has denounced the accusations as "politically motivated".

Could Britain extradite Assange to the US?

If the US government wishes to extradite Assange, it would need to be in a position to charge him and have an indictment signed off.

Officials could then apply for a provisional arrest warrant, which could be issued in a matter of hours.

The US authorities would then have a further 65 days to apply for a full extradition warrant, putting forward the grounds on which they wish to charge him.

The extradition process could then begin, which could take several months as lawyers for Assange argue why he should not answer the charges in the US.

If no indictment has been drafted, the American authorities could be in a race against time to complete the legal process before Assange completes any sentence he is handed in Britain for breaching bail.