LONDON (AP) — A British judge on Tuesday upheld a U.K. arrest warrant for the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, leaving his legal position unchanged after more than five years inside the Ecuadorean Embassy.
Judge Emma Arbuthnot rejected a call from Assange’s lawyers for the warrant to be revoked because he is no longer wanted for questioning in Sweden.
“I am not persuaded the warrant should be withdrawn,” Arbuthnot told lawyers, journalists and Assange supporters gathered at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuador’s embassy in London since he took refuge there in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. Swedish prosecutors were investigating allegations of sexual assault and rape made by two women in 2010.
Swedish prosecutors dropped the case last year, but Assange was still subject to a British arrest warrant for jumping bail in 2012.
Had the judge ruled in Assange’s favor, he would have been free to leave the embassy without being arrested on the British warrant.
However, Assange suspects there is a secret U.S. indictment against him for WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked classified American documents, and that the U.S. authorities will seek his extradition.
Earlier this month, Ecuador said it had granted the Australian-born hacker citizenship, as the South American country tried to unblock the stalemate that has kept Assange as its houseguest for five-and-a-half years.
Ecuador also asked Britain to grant him diplomatic status. Britain refused, saying “the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice.”
Too bad, Julian.
How is that effort to get Trump to force the Australian Govt to name you as Ambassador to the US going? Enjoy your future role in the spotlight as the Mueller investigation looks to Don Jr and collusion with a hostile foreign govt.
I think my head would explode from delight if Donnie’s and Julian’s trials were held concurrently…
I for one am pleased.
I would be very surprised if there were a sealed US indictment against Assange for the Snowden leaks, etc. I recall reading that the Obama DOJ concluded they couldn’t indict him. If Assange walked out today, he could likely have his UK legal issues disposed of quickly and be a free man in short order. Fly to Ecuador, Moscow, etc.
Ironically, it appears Assange is going to stay in the embassy until such time as Mueller has indicted him on actual charges and he’s likely going to be stuck in that embassy the remainder of his days or until a new Ecuadorian government kicks him out.
So…will Trump try and overrule the ‘secret indictment’ so as to spit in the face of Teresa May and company for nailing him for his ignorant comment on British healthcare? That’s right in Donnie’s wheelhouse.