STE WILLIAMS

Supreme Court dismisses Assange bid to reopen extradition case

Supreme Court judges have rejected Julian Assange’s bid to get his extradition case reopened, which means the 40-year-old WikiLeaks founder will be sent packing from Blighty in a fortnight’s time.

However, it’s likely that Assange will now take his case to the European court of Human Rights to have one final attempt at getting his extradition to Sweden – where he is sought for questioning over allegations of sexual harassment and rape – overturned.

He had hoped to get another chance in the Supreme Court, after his lawyer Dinah Rose requested the stay of extradition by arguing that the use of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which helped determine that Assange should be returned to Sweden to face questioning from prosecutors in that country, had not been previously cited in court.

Today, the justices – in a retort critical of Rose – outlined why they had dismissed the Australian’s bid to reopen the extradition case.

Had Ms Rose been minded to challenge the applicability of the Convention, or the applicability of State practice as an aid to the construction of the Framework Decision, or the relevance and admissibility of the material relating to State practice, she had the opportunity to do so. She made no such challenge. Her submissions were to the effect that caution should be exercised when considering the effect of State practice.

They said that Assange’s application was “without merit and it is dismissed.”

Assange has been given two weeks to pack his bags. Supporters are already attempting to raise cash for a defence fund. ®

Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/14/julian_assange_application_to_reopen_extradition_case_dismissed_by_supreme_court/

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