Britain’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden, but put his deportation on hold to give his lawyers a final chance to reopen the case.
After an 18-month legal battle, the court rejected the argument by lawyers for the 40-year-old Australian that the Swedish prosecutor who issued the arrest warrant over sex crime allegations was not entitled to do so.
“The request for Mr Assange’s extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed,” Supreme Court president Nicholas Phillips said as he delivered the ruling to a hushed courtroom.
The seven judges were split five to two but their majority ruling was that the prosecutor was a rightful judicial authority and therefore allowed to issue the warrant for the Internet whistleblower.
But in a new twist, Assange’s lawyer Dinah Rose asked the judge for 14 days to consider whether to apply to reopen the case, on the grounds that the judgement referred to material not mentioned during the last court hearing in February.
The judge granted the request — which is highly unusual in the three-year history of the Supreme Court — saying that if the court does reopen the appeal it will accept further arguments either at a fresh hearing or on paper.
“With the agreement of the respondent, the required period for extradition shall not commence until 13th June 2012,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Assange himself was not in the central London court to hear the judgement. One of his supporters, journalist John Pilger, said he was “stuck in traffic” with his mother, who flew in from Australia for the verdict.
The Swedish lawyer for the two women who accuse Assange of rape and sexual assault said he would be extradited sooner or later.
“The decision (that Assange can be extradited) was what we expected … It’s unfortunate that it has been delayed further, but he will ultimately be extradited,” Claes Borgstroem told AFP.
Assange is at present wanted for questioning over the sex crime allegations, but the Swedish lawyer said he expected an indictment perhaps within a month after he gets to Sweden.
Assange, whose website enraged Washington by releasing a flood of state and military secrets, has been living under tight restrictions on his movement for 540 days, including wearing an ankle tag and reporting daily to police.
He has said he fears his extradition would eventually lead to his transfer to the United States, where US soldier Bradley Manning is facing a court-martial over accusations that he handed documents to WikiLeaks.