Mar,19, London. WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange who is facing charges of sexual misconduct with two Swedish women and is contesting deportation to Stockholm for questioning and prosecution will have to wait till February 24 when the verdict is expected to be delivered by district judge Howard Riddle as this week’s two-and-a-half day extradition hearing came to a close on Friday.
Clare Montgomery representing Swedish prosecutors pointed out that Assnge’s deportation to Sweden was crucial for questioning in connection with charges leveled against him by two Swedish women with whom Assagne allegedly had nonconsensual and unprotected sex and indicated that DNA samples might be needed. This was contested by Assange’s defense counsel Geoffrey Robertson who appealed for adjournment in the view of “toxic atmosphere” created in Sweden post Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s outbursts against Assange calling him “public enemy number one in Sweden''. Robertson termed it “an intolerable development” affirming that there was no chance his client would get a fair trial in Sweden. His appeal was rejected by the district judge.
The fate of the 39-year Nobel Peace Prize nominee and founder of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, a conduit for news leaks, Assange remains in limbo as regardless of the ruling by a South London Magistrate’s court, the losing party will in all probability move the high court in the UK.
Despite being perceived as a highly controversial figure world over Assange has managed to garner a number of awards and nominations till now including the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award for publishing material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya. He was the Readers' Choice for Time magazine's 2010 Person of the Year. Another in his armory of nominations is Assange’s nomination for this year’s Nobel’s Peace Prize.
Ever since founding WikiLeaks in 2006, Assange has left behind many a milestone, be it publishing material about Kenyan extrajudicial killings or unearthing vital information about Church of Scientology manuals, African toxic waste dumping and Guantanamo Bay procedures. Assange’s brand of investigative journalism and internet activism has earned him many admirers as well as detractors. Undeterred by the criticism, WikiLeaks and its five media partners started publishing secret US diplomatic cables on 28 November 2010. The year 2010 also saw the WikiLeaks spokesman publish classified details of the US involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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