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Wikileaks Founder Loses Bid To Stop Extradition From Britain

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
/
AP
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Julian Assange, the creator of the secret-spilling website, Wikileaks, lost his appeal to Britain's highest court to stop his impending extradition to Sweden. He's wanted there for questioning in connection with sexual assault allegations lodged by two women. He claims the sex was consensual.

As Mark wrote earlier, Assange's lawyers filed his appeal based on an interesting legal argument - they argued the same British court previously ruled on Assange's extradition using points that weren't presented during the hearing.

He can still take his case up with the European Court of Human Rights, according to the Guardian. He hasn't been charged with a crime.

Wikileaks has bedeviled the U.S. government with the release of top secret U.S. diplomatic cables. The site first shared edited versions of these with the Guardian and the New York Times, but much of the raw material still ended up on the web, without redactions.

Assange, who remains in Britain, suspects going to Sweden could make it easier for the American government to extradite him to the U.S. where he fears he could be subjected to harsh punishment.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Korva Coleman is a newscaster for NPR.
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