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LONDON — A British court ruled Wednesday that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, can be extradited to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual abuse made against him by two women there last year. He will seek a final appeal at Britain’s highest court, according to a person close to him.

Two of Britain’s most senior judges dismissed all four arguments raised by Mr. Assange’s defense team. The decision makes it increasingly likely that Mr. Assange will face his accusers in Sweden.

He has at least 14 days to ask for permission to bring his case before Britain’s highest court, the Supreme Court, for a final appeal. The court hears only cases of constitutional or general public importance.

The 43-page ruling was the latest twist in an 11-month legal battle that has included multiple court appearances and brought out throngs of supporters, and comes as Wikileaks has been temporarily shuttered because of continuing funding troubles. Mr. Assange was briefly jailed last December, as Swedish authorities filed an arrest warrant demanding he return to face accusations made by two WikiLeaks volunteers in Stockholm in August 2010. He is accused of two counts of sexual molestation, one count of unlawful coercion and one count of rape based on their allegations that consensual sex became nonconsensual.

He vehemently denies the allegations and has engaged a series of high-profile lawyers to fight the extradition warrant, arguing, among other things, that he could not get a fair trial. Mr. Assange has given interviews condemning Sweden’s strict sexual crimes laws, calling the country “the Saudi Arabia of feminism.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/world/europe/wikileaks-founder-faces-extradition-hearing-in-london.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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You couldn't look at a continental system "through the narrowest of common law eyes". If you viewed it "through cosmopolitan eyes", the court said, you could see that criminal proceedings against Assange had begun.

Assange simply refused to accept this aspect of the judgment in his brief response to reporters. So whatever other charms he may have, in the judges' view, he clearly doesn't have cosmopolitan eyes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/nov/02/assange-sweden-extradition-court-loophole

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The farce continues with the English law as "applied" by a couple of judges appearing to be bunkum... All possibly designed to serve a master in Washington who got its knickers in a knot due to some leaks and a couple of scorned women in sweden... We shall see...

One of the legal advisors to Julian Assange says the Federal Government should step in to ensure the WikiLeaks founder receives a fair trial if he is extradited to Sweden on allegations of rape.

Mr Assange lost his appeal on Wednesday, with two judges at the High Court in London deciding to uphold a previous ruling in favour of extradition.

His lawyers now have 14 days to take the case to the British Supreme Court.

Geoffrey Robertson QC has called on the Australian Government to intervene if the extradition goes through.

"I think Canberra may have to do something about. It's got a duty to help Australians in peril in foreign courts. It didn't do anything for David Hicks and that was something of a disgrace," he told the ABC's Lateline program.

"As far as Julian Assange is concerned, Sweden doesn't have bail, doesn't have money bail for foreigners, so he's likely to be held in custody.

"He is likely to be held in Gothenburg Prison, which has been criticised, condemned by the European Commission against Torture for the way it treats its foreign prisoners."

Not even the culture pages of Aftonbladet, which kept up their uncritical admiration for Assange longer than anyone else, can keep it up now. Noted left-wing commentator Dan Josefsson admitted recently that Assange was not the radical hero he had supposed, but ''a solitary and shabby libertarian who wants to tear down democratic societies''.

KEVIN Rudd and his foreign affairs department have been accused of all but ignoring pleas from Julian Assange's legal team to protect the WikiLeaks founder from a possible death penalty in the US.

The foreign affairs department may have also been caught out in an embarrassing lie, after telling The Age they had replied to a letter from Assange's British lawyer, Gareth Peirce, when they had not.

Tony Kevin, an Australian diplomat of three decades who served as ambassador to Poland and Cambodia, was critical of Mr Rudd's handling of the Assange case, saying Australia appeared unprepared to grapple with its highly political nature.

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has won the right to take his legal battle over extradition to Sweden to the Supreme Court, two British High Court judges have ruled.

The decision means the 40-year-old Australian will not, for the moment, be extradited to Sweden on sex claims made by two women.

The two judges ruled his case raised a question ''of general public importance'' which should be decided by the highest court in the land ''as quickly as possible''.

Mr Assange was in the London court for the ruling.

Although the judges refused him permission to appeal, they ruled the Supreme Court should have the last word.

Mr Assange, dressed in a navy suit and white shirt with his trademark white hair cut short, received three cheers from about 40 supporters as he left the court.

''I think that is the correct decision, and I am thankful. The long struggle for justice for me and others continues,'' he told reporters.

Mr Assange's lawyer, Gareth Peirce, said the judges accepted Mr Assange's argument that there was a question over whether police and prosecutors are a judicial authority and should have the power to issue extradition requests under European law.

Ms Peirce said her client now has 14 days to submit a written request to the Supreme Court.

Mr Assange has spent almost a year on bail fighting extradition for questioning over claims of rape and molestation by two women, relating to a visit to Sweden in August 2010.

He denies the claims and says the sex was consensual. He has claimed the sex crimes investigation is politically motivated by opponents of his WikiLeaks website. The allegations surfaced shortly after WikiLeaks released secret US files from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sweden wants him to face questioning but has not issued any charges against him.

Two levels of British courts have already ruled against Mr Assange's wish to avoid extradition, including the High Court.

Last month it upheld the original court decision, saying the alleged offences amounted to crimes under British law and that the arrest warrant had been properly issued.

Mr Assange's advisers are believed to be fighting the extradition partly because of fears that if he goes to Sweden, he could then be extradited to the US, where prosecutors are considering criminal charges against him and where he might become involved in the case of Bradley Manning, a US army analyst suspected of disclosing secrets to WikiLeaks.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/assange-wins-right-to-another-hearing-in-britain-20111205-1ofq6.html

A "church" whose central tenet is the right to file-share has been formally recognised by the Swedish government.

The Church of Kopimism claims that "kopyacting" - sharing information through copying - is akin to a religious service.

The "spiritual leader" of the church said recognition was a "large step".

But others were less enthusiastic and said the church would do little to halt the global crackdown on piracy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16424659

Julian Assange's lawyer says the WikiLeaks founder has accepted a request by Swedish prosecutors to question him in London, where he is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Sweden wants to question the Australian on allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he denies.

The prosecutor has also asked to conduct a DNA test on Assange and said the request was a possible breakthrough in a case that has been at an impasse for years.

One of Assange's lawyers said he welcomed the request, saying it would be a first step in clearing his client, but noted concern the process could take time given that approval was also needed from British and Ecuadorian authorities.

"He [Assange] will accept [to be questioned in London]," attorney Per Samuelsson told media agency AFP, adding that his client was "happy" about the breakthrough.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-13/swedish-prosecutor-asks-to-question-assange-in-london/6316678