The WikiLeaks founder today won the right to petition the UK Supreme Court in his fight against extradition to Sweden on rape allegation.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today won the right to petition the UK's Supreme Court in his high-profile battle against extradition to Sweden, where he faces charges of sexual assault.
The High Court in London ruled in favour of 40-year-old Assange, observing that his case raised a question "of general public importance" which should be decided by the highest court in the land "as quickly as possible".
Assange, the Australia-born founder of whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, had last month lost a High Court battle to be extradited over the alleged sex offences, which he denies.
But, the High Court today paved the way for him to pursue his case against extradition in the Supreme Court.
Swedish authorities want to question him over accusations of rape and sexual assault made by two women, former WikiLeaks volunteers, during a visit there in August 2010.
Assange was in the London court today for the ruling.
Although two judges of the High Court refused Assange permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, they ruled that the apex court should have the final word on the issue, paving the way for his lawyers to apply directly to the higher court. However, the WikiLeaks founder still has no automatic right to be heard by the Supreme Court.
The door to a fresh hearing was opened by Sir John Thomas and Justice Ouseley, the judges who recently dismissed Assange's application for judicial review.
In certifying a question, the judges were giving Assange access to the Supreme Court. He now has to ask the apex court justices to hear his case.
Assange argued that it would be "unfair and unlawful" to order his extradition.
Earlier this year, the High Court had upheld a ruling by district judge Howard Riddle at Belmarsh magistrates court in south-east London that Assange should be extradited to face investigation in Sweden.
He claims his arrest was politically motivated and linked to the activities of WikiLeaks.
Assange, who has been living in Britain since his arrest here in December last year, attempted to appeal to the Supreme Court on two grounds.
He had argued the highest court should consider whether his extradition would be unlawful because the request was made by a "partisan prosecutor working for the executive" and whether he could be defined as "the accused" even though no decision has been taken to prosecute him.
Had today's decision gone against him, Assange would have faced extradition within 10 days.
He had spent nine days in London's Wandsworth prison after his arrest last year. He was freed a week before Christmas on bail and has since been living at a country house of a wealthy supporter in eastern England.
Last year, WikiLeaks posted 391,832 secret papers on the Iraq war and 77,000 classified Pentagon documents on the Afghan conflict.
It has also made available about 250,000 individual cables, daily traffic between the State Department and more than 270 American diplomatic outposts around the world.
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