Assange loses extradition battle

Gareth Peirce, center, the solicitor of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who did not appear at court, speaks to the media after the verdict was given in his extradition case at the Supreme Court in London, Wednesday, May 30, 2012.
Gareth Peirce, center, the solicitor of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who did not appear at court, speaks to the media after the verdict was given in his extradition case at the Supreme Court in London, Wednesday, May 30, 2012.

— Britain's Supreme Court on Wednesday denied WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's appeal against extradition to Sweden to face questions about allegations of rape, sexual assault and unlawful coercion.

At a short hearing in central London, the president of the Supreme Court, Nicholas Phillips, said the court dismissed the defense team's argument that the warrant that led to Assange's arrest was flawed.

Speaking to a packed courtroom, Phillips said the case had "not been simple to resolve," and was decided by a vote of 5 to 2.

In a surprise intervention, Assange's legal team asked — and was granted — two weeks to consider lodging an application to reopen the case. The lawyers said that the judges decided the case based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, but that this point had not been discussed in court.

Assange — who shot to international fame when his anti-secrecy website spilled official state secrets in the form of Afghanistan and Iraq military reports and a mammoth cache of diplomatic cables — did not appear in court on Wednesday. His lawyers told reporters he was stuck in traffic.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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