LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was refused bail by a British court on Tuesday after he was arrested over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website is at the centre of a row over the release of secret US diplomatic cables, was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant earlier on Tuesday after handing himself in to London police. Assange, who denies the allegations, was refused bail and faces a fresh hearing on December 14.
He has spent much of his time in Sweden and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the allegations. At a court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: “There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail”.
He also said the allegations were of a serious nature, and Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain. WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret US documents it had obtained.
“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” WikiLeaks said, according to its Twitter page. London police said Assange was arrested by officers from its extradition unit at about 9.30 am after he appeared by appointment at a police station. His whereabouts had been previously undisclosed.
