British judge upholds arrest warrant for Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been at the Ecuadorean embassy in London for five-and-a-half years Photo / AP

A British judge yesterday upheld a UK arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, leaving him still a wanted man in the country where he has spent 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 over alleged sex crimes. It was issued in 2012 for jumping bail.

"I am not persuaded the warrant should be withdrawn," Arbuthnot told lawyers, journalists and Assange supporters gathered at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court.

However, she allowed Assange's lawyer to make a new set of arguments, and said she would rule on them next week.

Assange, 46, has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London since he took refuge there in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. Swedish prosecutors at the time were investigating allegations of sexual assault and rape made by two women in 2010.

Swedish prosecutors dropped the case last year, saying there was no prospect of bringing Assange to Sweden in the foreseeable future. But Assange was still subject to the British warrant for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.

The judge said that if Assange wanted the warrant lifted he should surrender to authorities and come to court. She said he would be able to argue his case and "put an argument for reasonable cause" for breaching his bail conditions.

After the ruling, the judge agreed to let Assange's lawyer, Mark Summers, argue in his client's absence that the warrant should be lifted because it was no longer in the public interest to arrest Assange. Summers said Assange had health problems including depression, and argued that the five and a half years he has spent inside the embassy were more than adequate punishment for his actions.

Arbuthnot said she would rule on those arguments February 13.

Had the judge ruled in Assange's favour he would have been free to leave the embassy without being arrested on the British warrant.

However, Assange suspects there is a secret US indictment against him for WikiLeaks' publication of leaked classified American documents, and that the US 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."

British prosecutors had opposed the removal of the warrant, saying Assange shouldn't be immune from the law simply because he has managed to evade justice for a long time.

Extradition lawyer Rebecca Niblock, of the law firm Kingsley Napley, said before the ruling that Assange's legal argument was a longshot.

"Failing to surrender to bail is like insulting the court's authority" and unlikely to go down well with the court, she said.

- AP