Sweden to Appeal Assange Release
The Wall Street Journal reports:
A U.K. judge agreed to release WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from custody once he posts £200,000 ($316,000) in bail, but Mr. Assange will remain in custody for up to 48 hours as Swedish prosecutors seeking to extradite him appeal the decision.
Mr. Assange has been in custody in London since last week, when he was arrested by U.K. police on a European warrant issued by Sweden, which wants to question Mr. Assange about allegations he raped one woman and molested another. Sweden hasn't formally charged him with wrongdoing. Mr. Assange's arrest comes amid a global furor over WikiLeaks's release of thousands of leaked classified documents.
Mr. Assange was denied bail at his first court appearance a week ago. On Tuesday, Judge Howard Riddle at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court agreed to release him, provided that he post bail; wear an electronic monitoring tag; report in person to police every evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and stay at the same address in Suffolk, a county northeast of London, where he will be subject to a curfew.
Mr. Assange has denied the sexual-assault allegations and called them an attempt to smear him. He is to appear in court next on Jan. 11.
One of the Swedish women alleges Mr. Assange forcibly held her arms and legs, preventing her from moving, and had sexual intercourse with her without using a condom despite knowing it was a prerequisite for her. The other woman alleges Mr. Assange had sex with her while she was asleep, again failing to wear a condom despite knowing she required it.
The Swedish case has left the WikiLeaks founder in legal paralysis as his website attempts to continue publishing thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables. Publication of the cables has heightened Washington's anger with WikiLeaks, which earlier this year published secret U.S. military documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Click here to read more.
