Feb. 24 - Julian Assange extradition hearing decision – live updates

Julian Assange extradition hearing decision – live updates

The WikiLeaks founder returns to court to learn if he will be extradited to Sweden in relation to allegations of rape and sexual assault

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Julian Assange arrives with his lawyer Jennifer Robinson at Belmarsh magistrates court Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/REUTERS

2.35pm: Assange ends his statement calling on Swedes who have seen evidence of abuse of process to come forward and to "make this bigger than me".

Esther Addley offers the following:

#Assange vows to fight on but that was pretty audacious call to Swedish people, u might think he's resigned to trialless than a minute ago via txtesther addley

estheraddley

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And that - unless there are any further developments - rounds off the liveblog.

2.20pm: Assange - on bail again - has just made the following statement outside Belmarsh. This is how it began:

Belmarsh was a rubber stamping process. It comes as no surprise but is nevertheless wrong. It comes as the result of a European arrest warrant system amok.
There was no consideration of the allegations made against me. No consideration of the complaints against me in Sweden.
We have always known we would appeal. We have always known in all likelihood we would have to appeal. Ninety five percent of all European arrest warrants are successful [...]
[...] What does the United States have to do with a Swedish Extradition process?
It has been falsely stated that I said the CIA or Pentagon was involved in the initial allegation. I have never said that. I have never said who was behind those allegations, simply that they were untrue.
Why is it that I am subject - a non-profit free speech activist - that I am subject to a £200,000 bail, that I am subject to house arrest when I have never been charged in any country.
The scrutiny of the European arrest warrant system needs to begin now, it cannot be the case that filling two pages with someone's name and a suspicion - not a charge - can lead to their extradition to one of 26 European nations.
Three people a day are being extradited from the UK under a rubber stamp process.

The passage between the ellipsis - my notetaking let me down at that point - concerns a comment on the Andrew Marr show from the US ambassador to the UK that "we'll have to see how it plays out in the British courts" (transcript here).

1.13pm: One of the new suretors is Lady Caroline Evans, who will put up £20,000 from her savings. The second, also for £20,000, is Patricia David, a retired professor of education. Assange is bailed on the same terms as before.

1.11pm: And Assange is back in court. His QC, Geoffrey Robertson, says they now have the sureties necessary for bail.

12.50pm: The "secret" trial was also one of two points that Salon blogger and WikiLeaks supporter Glenn Greenwald said in a tweet that media reports should emphasise. (The other was Assange has yet to be charged with anything.)

12.40pm: Mark Stephens, Assange's lawyer, has made a statement. He says Assange will appeal on arguments already made – that a rape trial in Sweden will be held in secret (the prosecution disputed this description of a trial where evidence is heard in the absence of the public or press) and that Assange will be held "incommunicado" before it since Swedish law has no provision for bail.

12.12pm: The judge has given Assange's team until 2pm to get his bail in order (two suretors are missing so the defence is putting forward alternatives.) This blog will return then, or when Assange and / or his team make a statement.

11.55am: From the full ruling, this is what the judge had to say about Assange's Swedish lawyer's "deliberate attempt to mislead the court" over whether Ny, the Swedish prosecutor, had attempted to interview his client before he left the country.

Mr Hurtig said in his statement that it was astonishing that Ms Ny made no effort to interview his client. In fact this is untrue. He says he realised the mistake the night before giving evidence. He did correct the statement in his evidence in chief (transcript p.83 and p.97). However, this was very low key and not done in a way that I, at least, immediately grasped as significant. It was only in cross-examination that the extent of the mistake became clear. Mr Hurtig must have realised the significance of paragraph 13 of his proof when he submitted it. I do not accept that this was a genuine mistake. It cannot have slipped his mind

11.41am: The full ruling is now online.

11.35am: The court is breaking for five minutes to gather together sureties for Assange's continuing bail (which must now be renewed).

11.21am: Assange loses the case. He has seven days to appeal or will be extradited to Sweden in 10.

11.17am: The judge dismisses defence arguments of abuse of process. He adds:

If there have been any irregularities in swedish system best place to examine them in a swedish trial' #assangeless than a minute ago via txtesther addley

estheraddley

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The ruling should be coming soon ... on the absence of press or public at a Swedish rape trial, the judge says it is "certainly alien" to the UK but it does not offend the European convention on human rights.

11.10am: The defence argued that the allegations against Assange were not offences in English law and therefore not extraditable. The judge says the three alleged offences against Miss A (sex assault and molestation) meet the criteria for extradition offences and a fourth against Miss B, an allegation of rape, "would amount to rape" in this country (the defence had disputed this).

11.08am: More on the interview, or absence of one – the judge says it is not unreasonable for Ny to want to interview Assange in Sweden rather than the UK and it cannot be said that because he has not been interviewed he is not wanted for prosecution. He says he has "no doubt" that Assange is wanted for prosecution in Sweden.

11.02am: The judge says it is clear that Assange has not made himself available for interview in Sweden. He says it is not for him to decide whether he deliberately fled, just that he did not make himself available.

10.53am: The judge says the Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, does have the authority to issue a European arrest warrant and that the warrant is valid.

Esther Addley tweets:

Judge has dismissed all defence arguments so far #assangeless than a minute ago via txtesther addley

estheraddley

Follow @estheraddley on Twitter

He also adds that the defence's attack on Ny's credibility "amounts to very little" and that Brita Sundberg-Weitman, the retired judge who criticised her, had no first hand knowledge, no evidence as to source of her opinion.

10.50am: The summary now addresses claims from the defence that Assange would face a negative climate in Sweden. He says there has been "considerable adverse publicity against Mr Assange in Sweden" including from the prime minister.

10.45am: The judge's summary is onto attempts by the Swedish prosecutor to contact Assange before he left the country.

• Assange's Swedish lawyer, Björn Hurtig, made a deliberate attempt to mislead this court, the judge says. He terms him an unreliable witness on attempts by the Swedish prosecutor to contact his client. 

• Of Assange, he says: "It would be a reasonable assumption from the facts that Mr Assange was deliberately avoiding interrogation before he left Sweden."

10.37am: The judge says that both parties have submitted more material in the last few days, Esther Addley tweets. "They shouldn't have done," he tells the court.

10.35am: The hearing has begun.

10.15am: Esther Addley tweets:

If #Assange loses there will be a question over his bail. Possible (likely?) Crown will argue he shd be remanded againless than a minute ago via txtesther addley

estheraddley

Follow @estheraddley on Twitter

Assange has arrived at Belmarsh and the hearing will begin soon.

10.10am: Julian Assange today returns to Belmarsh magistrates court in south-east London to learn if he will be extradited to Sweden on a European arrest warrant. The case was heard over two-and-a-half days earlier this month.

The defence argued the Swedish prosecutor had no authority to ask for Assange's extradition under the warrant, and furthermore that extradition could not be for questioning. The barrister representing the Swedish prosecutor said the intention was to prosecute him and that the allegations made against Assange by two Swedish women would be offences under English law too.

Esther Addley is back at the court and tweeting. Here is her curtain-raising report from this morning:

The most serious of the four allegations relates to an accusation that Assange, during a visit to Stockholm in August, had sex with a woman, Miss B, while she was sleeping and without a condom, against her consent. Three counts of sexual assault are also alleged against another woman, Miss A. If found guilty of the rape charge he could face up to four years in prison.
Since there is no system of bail in Sweden, he would be detained in custody if extradited until a possible trial or release.

Assange denies the allegations. The hearing begins at 10.30am.

• This report is compiled by Simon Jeffery at the Guardian based on the Twitter feed of Esther Addley at Belmarsh magistrates' court