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Assange’s mother slams Swedish legal system

A London High Court decision upholding Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden makes it more likely he will be sent to the United States and even tortured, his mother was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Christine Assange called on Australians to put pressure on the government to secure guarantees that her son would not be extradited to the United States, fearing for his safety, the Australian Associated Press reported.

“Now Julian’s even closer to a US extradition or rendition,” Assange told AAP. “It’s now up to the (Australian) people to use their democracy or lose it.

“If they don’t stand up for Julian, he will go to the US and he will be tortured. And he is the person who stood up for the world to expose the truth.”

She said she further feared that her son, if extradited to Sweden, could be held indefinitely without charge and without access to visitors, including lawyers, and that any trial could be conducted behind closed doors.

“People think that because Sweden is a Western country that they have a legal system the same as ours, that’s completely untrue,” she told AAP.

“From the time he hits Sweden, he is going to be lost to any kind of observation from anybody to understand if his human rights are being breached.”

But Petter Asp, a professor of criminal law at Stockholm University, said that claims by Assange’s mother were off base.

“That’s a clear misunderstanding,” he told The Local.

While he acknowledged that Sweden’s legal system has certain shortcomings, he said that they were no more severe than shortcomings in any other country governed by the rule of law.

According to Asp, much of the criticism directed at the Swedish legal system is unfounded and that Assange would “definitely” receive a fair trial in Sweden.

“One reason for people questioning the Swedish legal system is that a lot of people have sympathy with what he’s done in other parts of his life,” said Asp.

“But what is quite clear is that even people who do good things can also do bad things.”

Earlier on Wednesday, two judges at the High Court in London rejected arguments by the 40-year-old Australian, whose anti-secrecy website has enraged governments around the world, that his extradition would be unlawful.

Assange said he would consult his lawyers about whether to make a further appeal to England’s Supreme Court, but doing so would be difficult as judges must first decide that the case is of special public interest.

While Asp refused to pass judgement on the merits of the case or speculate on how long prosecutors may need to pursue their investigation once Assange lands in Sweden, he didn’t expect the extradition order to be reversed.

“I can’t see how it would be overturned,” he said.

Assange has strongly denied the allegations, claiming they are politically motivated and linked to the activities of WikiLeaks. He has been under virtual house arrest since he was first detained in December.

mother called for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to do more for Assange, who she said had done nothing more than speak the truth.

“Julia Gillard should be standing up to the US and saying ‘not this time. You’re not going to take one of our countrymen and torture them just because they told the truth’,” she told AAP.

“He’s been crucified for doing what he was brought up to do,” she added.

“I brought my son up to tell the truth, to believe in justice. He was brought up to believe he lived in a democracy and to right any wrongs that he saw… Now I believe that’s not true.”

Assange now has 14 days to decide whether he will try to take the case to the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

But leave to appeal can only be granted by either the High Court or the Supreme Court, and then only if it there is a point of law of general public importance.

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SPAIN

Spanish ring ‘tried to extort €3m from Wikileaks’: Assange lawyers

Julian Assange's lawyers have filed a court complaint in Spain against a group of Spaniards they allege extorted the WikiLeaks founder and Ecuador's foreign ministry, a source in his defence team said on Saturday.

Spanish ring 'tried to extort €3m from Wikileaks': Assange lawyers
A video grab shows Julian Assange being driven away by British police after his arrest. Photo: AFP
Assange, who for seven years lived holed up in London's Ecuadoran embassy where he had taken refuge to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape accusations, was arrested on April 11 after Quito terminated his asylum.
   
The 47-year-old founder of WikiLeaks, which exposed everything from US military secrets to the wealthy's tax evasion, is now awaiting sentencing for breaching his British bail conditions in 2012.
 
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the complaint was against “a group of Spaniards who allegedly engaged in extortion and the embassy's employees and Ecuador's foreign ministry.”
   
The source added an investigation was ongoing and alleged “espionage” in the embassy against Assange, refusing to give further details.
 
According to Spanish media reports, four Spaniards have videos and personal documents of Assange. Online daily eldiario.es said they somehow got these via an alleged spying system set up in the embassy that included security cameras and employees taking photos of all documents handled by Assange.
   
They allegedly tried to extort three million euros ($3.3 million) out of WikiLeaks not to publish any of it, Spanish media report.
   
Eldiario.es, which had access to the written complaint that was filed to Spain's top-level National Court, says Assange's lawyers also accuse Ecuador of spying on him. The National Court could not comment when contacted by AFP.
 
That contrasts with Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno's version of events. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, he alleged Assange had tried to set up a “centre for spying” in Ecuador's embassy.
   
Last year, Quito cut his internet and mobile phone access, accusing him of breaking “a written commitment” not to interfere in its and allies' foreign policies.
   
The move infuriated Assange, who sued the government for violating his “fundamental rights” by limiting his access to the outside world.
   
Now in prison in Britain, Assange is also fighting a US extradition warrant relating to the release by WikiLeaks of a huge cache of official documents.
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