Judget Says Julian Assange Should Go To Sweden

A U.K. judge ruled that Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, should be extradited to Sweden from Britain to face rape charges there. District Judge Howard Riddle denied Assange's plea that he wouldn't get a fair trial in Sweden. Assange, and his lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson, had also claimed that the prosecutor is a “radical feminist.” Robertson has said he will appeal the motion. He is free on bail, and has been since January. “It does not seem unreasonable to me” that Sweden would request Assange's presence for questioning “in a matter as serious as this,” Riddle said. “I must order that Mr. Assange be extradited to Sweden.” Assange was first detained in December on these charges, as authorities issued an arrest warrant to question him on these claims. The women said the rape took place in August. “What we saw today at Belmarsh was a rubber stamping process,” Assange said outside Belmarsh Magistrates' Court after the ruling. “It comes as no surprise. It is nonetheless wrong.” “There was no consideration during the entire process of the merits of the allegations,” Assange said. Assange could eventually be sent to prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and face a death sentence for espionage against the U.S. if he is extradited his lawyer said. Neill Blundell, a lawyer with Eversheds LLP in London said that Assange will most likely fail in his appeal attempt, due to the fact that contesting a European arrest warrant is “very, very small.” “This case isn't about WikiLeaks,” Blundell said. “Whether we accept or don't accept that Sweden was being pressured by the U.S., the European arrest warrant is there to streamline the process for one EU member state extraditing someone from another.” If Assange is extradited, Riddle decreed that Assange being sent to America would have to have the permission of the Swedish and British governments. “Mr. Assange would have the protection of the courts in Sweden,” he said. “He would have the protection of the English courts also.” “On appeal, they're going to need more than just a smoke screen issue,” Blundell said. “That's going to be the tricky thing -- looking at whether the arrest warrant was issued in a procedurally correct manner.” “If the Swedish practice was in fundamental and flagrant breach of human rights I would expect there to be a body of cases against Sweden confirming that,” Riddle said. “I think the position is more subtle and less stark.”