Skip to footer

Julian Assange detention order upheld as WikiLeaks founder shelters in London embassy

Assange has avoided being extradited to Sweden by taking shelter in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012.

|
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/File
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks speaks to the media and members of the public from a balcony at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, in 2012. A Swedish appeals court on Thursday, Nov. 20 upheld the detention order on Julian Assange, dismissing a challenge by the WikiLeaks founder who is wanted by Swedish prosecutors in an investigation of alleged sex crimes.
  • By Associated Press

| STOCKHOLM

A Swedish appeals court upheld the detention order on Julian Assange on Thursday, dismissing a challenge by the WikiLeaks founder who is wanted by Swedish prosecutors in an investigation of alleged sex crimes.

Confirming a ruling by a lower court, the Svea appeals court said there is no reason to lift the detention order just because it cannot be enforced at the moment.

Assange has avoided being extradited to Sweden by taking shelter in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. The court also criticized the prosecutors, who have declined Assange's offer to be questioned in London, for not considering "alternative avenues" to move the investigation forward.

He hasn't been formally indicted in Sweden, but is wanted for questioning by police about allegations of sexual misconduct and rape involving two women he met during a visit to the Scandinavian country in 2010. He denies the allegations.

His lawyers argued that the detention order that underlies Sweden's request for his extradition should be lifted, on the grounds that it cannot be enforced while he is at the embassy and because it is restricting Assange's civil rights.

"In the view of the Court of Appeal there is no reason to set aside the detention solely because Julian Assange is in an embassy and the detention order cannot be enforced at present for that reason," the court said in a statement.

"The reasons for detention still outweigh the reasons to the contrary since Julian Assange is suspected of crimes of a relatively serious nature and there is a great risk that he will evade legal proceedings or punishment if the detention order is set aside," the court added.

Assange's lawyer Per E. Samuelson said the defense team would appeal the decision to Sweden's Supreme Court.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Julian Assange detention order upheld as WikiLeaks founder shelters in London embassy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1120/Julian-Assange-detention-order-upheld-as-WikiLeaks-founder-shelters-in-London-embassy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe