BREAKING: WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested in UK

By BBC News

07 December 10

Also See:
WikiLeaks' Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/wikileaks
WikiLeaks' Support Page: http://wikileaks.ch/support.html
Lieberman Attacks New York Times Over WikiLeaks Documents: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/07/wikileaks-joe-lieberman-new-york-times-investigated

he founder of whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been refused bail by a court in London but vowed to fight extradition to Sweden.

Mr Assange denies sexually assaulting two women in Sweden. He was remanded in custody pending a hearing next week.

A judge at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court refused bail because of the risk of the 39-year-old fleeing.

A WikiLeaks spokesman said the arrest was an attack on media freedom and pledged to continue publishing.

Mr Assange's lawyer Mark Stephens said after the court appearance he would be applying again for bail.

He also claimed the charges were "politically motivated" and he pointed out the judge had said he was keen to see the evidence against Mr Assange.

Mr Stephens also said WikiLeaks would continue to publish material and added: "We are on cable 301 and there are 250,000 secret cables."

A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Assange's arrest was "a matter for the police" and there had been no ministerial involvement in the case.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said it would not stop the release of more secret files and told Reuters on Tuesday: "WikiLeaks is operational. We are continuing on the same track as laid out before.

"Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today and in the coming days."

Secret Locations

He said WikiLeaks was being operated by a group in London and other secret locations.

Five people, including journalist John Pilger, film director Ken Loach and Jemima Khan, the sister of Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, stood up in court offering to put up sureties.

But District Judge Howard Riddle refused bail for Australian Mr Assange and he was remanded in custody until 14 December.

Judge Riddle said he believed Mr Assange might flee the jurisdiction and he also said he feared he "may be at risk from unstable persons".

Gemma Lindfield, for the Swedish authorities, gave details of the allegations against Mr Assange.

One of the charges is that he had unprotected sex with a woman, identified only as Miss A, when she insisted he use a condom.

Another is that he had unprotected sex with another woman, Miss W, while she was asleep.

Mr Assange, who was accompanied by Australian consular officials, initially refused to say where he lived but eventually gave an address in Australia.

Afterwards Ms Khan said she had never met Mr Assange but explained why she was willing to put up a surety: "I offered my support, as I believe that this is about the universal right of freedom of information and our right to be told the truth."

Mr Assange was arrested by appointment at a London police station at 0930 GMT.

Police contacted his lawyer, Mark Stephens, on Monday night after receiving a European arrest warrant from the Swedish authorities.

An earlier warrant, issued last month, had not been filled in correctly.

At a full hearing, which is not likely to take place for some weeks, Mr Assange will be able to raise his arguments against extradition.

The 'fast-track' European arrest warrant system is based on the concept that all the participating countries have legal systems which meet similar standards, and fully respect human rights.

In other words, it is assumed a person will get an equally fair trial in any of these countries.

If the accusation from the requesting state is valid, the grounds for opposing extradition are very limited.

Mr Assange has come in for criticism in the last week for the revelations made on WikiLeaks.

On Monday Foreign Secretary William Hague criticised the website for publishing details of sensitive sites, including some in the UK, saying they could be targeted by terrorists.

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Mr Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands".

But, in an article for The Australian newspaper, Mr Assange denied he had put lives at risk and said WikiLeaks deserved to be protected.

WikiLeaks was forced to switch to a Swiss host server after several US internet service providers refused to handle it.

It has also come under cyber attack and several companies, including PayPal and Amazon, have refused to supply it.

On Tuesday another company, Visa, also suspended all transactions involving WikiLeaks and a spokesman for Mastercard said they were "in the process of working to suspend the acceptance of Mastercard cards on WikiLeaks until the situation is resolved".

A European arrest warrant is designed to speed up the extradition process but there can be delays.

Last week a district judge finally agreed to extradite British businessman Ian Griffin to France, 18 months after he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in a Paris hotel. Mr Griffin had been claiming he was mentally ill.

Gerard Batten, a UKIP MEP, said the Assange case highlighted the dangers of the European arrest warrant, because the judge has no power to listen to the evidence to judge if there is a prime facie case.

He said: "What concerns me is that it could be used against political dissidents. I don't know of the quality of the evidence in Mr Assange's case but it does seem that he is involved in political turmoil and intrigue and there are a lot of people keen to shut him up and there is nothing a court in the UK can do to look at the evidence before they extradite him."

Mr Assange is an Australian citizen and his supporters have written an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, asking her to protect him.

One of the signatories, prominent barrister Julian Burnside QC said: "First and foremost Julian Assange is an Australian citizen who is entitled to the protection of his country and does not deserve to be betrayed by his country.

"Julia Gillard has been making it virtually impossible for Assange to return to Australia where he is entitled to be. And she has even threatened to cancel his passport. That is an outrageous stance to take."

His words were echoed by Mr Pilger, who is also Australian, who said the threat to remove his passport smacked of "totalitarianism".