London – Judge Says WikiLeaks’ Assange Can be Extradited

London – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden, a judge said Thursday. Assange’s lawyer said he would appeal the ruling.

Assange has been out on bail during the extradition fight, and has seven days to appeal the ruling to the High Court.

Assange’s lawyers have questioned Sweden’s judicial process and expressed concern their client risks being handed over to the U.S., which is investigating whether Assange’s website should be held responsible for obtaining hundreds of thousands of classified United States government and military documents and posting large numbers of them on the Internet.

Lawyers for Sweden have argued that authorities made repeated attempts to interview Assange while he was in Scandinavia, but to no avail.

In his ruling, the judge attacked the defense case against extradition point by point. He said he is satisfied that the crimes Assange, 39, is accused of are extraditable offenses, and rejected the claim that comments made against Assange by prosecutors and politicians in Sweden would pervert the course of justice.