By Tim Bradshaw
Julian Assange, founder of whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, has lost his High Court bid to block extradition to Sweden where he faces questions about alleged sexual offences.
Swedish authorities won their extradition case in February but Mr Assange appealed in July. Two High Court judges on Wednesday rejected his claim that extraditing the 40-year-old Australian would be ?unfair and unlawful??.
His lawyers had argued that the European arrest warrant was ?invalid? and that the purported offences would not be considered crimes in the UK. But the court dismissed Mr Assange?s legal team?s ?technical? arguments that the arrest warrant had not been issued by a proper judicial authority and that it was disproportionate.
The judges ruled that the allegations did pass the ?dual criminality? test of being considered an offence in both Sweden and the UK, but that it was ?not for us to decide the strength of the evidence? about which the Swedish police want to question Mr Assange.
The judges emphasised ?that the grounds (for dismissing the appeal) were technical and very different to those brought before the district judge? in February?s hearing.
The lengthy judgement was published on the judiciary website, which immediately crashed, apparently under the weight of demand from interested members of the public.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Assange made a brief statement, saying he would be considering his next steps, and urging people to go to his website, Sweden vs. Assange.com, for his view of the latest developments.
Mr Assange has consistently denied allegations by two Swedish women of ?non-consensual, coerced? sex but was forced to change his legal team and arguments after losing in February. His lawyers had originally suggested that Mr Assange risked extradition to the US if he was handed over to the Swedish authorities, whom they strongly criticised.
Clare Montgomery QC, acting for the Swedish prosecutors, argued in July that the two women were ?trapped into a position where they had no choice?.
In his ghostwritten autobiography, published in September without Mr Assange?s consent, the Australian computer hacker and freedom of information campaigner suggested that a broader conspiracy may lie behind the case.
?I did not rape these women, and cannot imagine anything that happened between us that would make them think so, except malice after the fact, a joint plan to entrap me, or a terrible misunderstanding that was stoked up between them,? Mr Assange said in interviews with author Andrew O?Hagan at Ellingham Hall, where he has been living under house arrest since December.
?I wasn?t a reliable boyfriend, or even a very courteous sleeping partner, and this began to figure. Unless, of course, the agenda had been rigged from the start.?
The ruling comes at a critical time for WikiLeaks, which has stopped publishing to focus its efforts on fundraising. Mr Assange said last month that the site must raise 2.5m euros before the end of the year to continue operating, after what he called a ?financial blockade? preventing payments to the group through Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and other online transaction providers.
Mr Assange has 14 days to appeal to the British supreme court.
Vaughan Smith, the former Army officer and founder of the Frontline Club for journalists, who has been hosting Mr Assange at his manor home Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, bemoaned the lack of clarity over how long his unexpected houseguest would be staying. But he added: ?He?s become something of an uncle figure to our family. We?re very happy to have him.?
? The Financial Times Limited 2011