14 December, 2010 — RT

A London court is to decide whether the founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks will be granted bail. Julian Assange is wanted in Sweden on charges of sexual assault, which many of his supporters call false.

On Tuesday, the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court could be the scene of the final extradition hearing for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.

Originally, when the case came before a prosecutor in Sweden, she threw it out. It was subsequently picked up by another prosecutor, who decided to take the case into court.

Assange’s supporters believe the charges against him are trumped up. They are believed to be linked to WikiLeaks’ release of US embassy cables, which is embarrassing for the US government and for other governments around the world.

It is expected that Assange, should he finally be extradited to Sweden, will then be almost immediately requested to appear in court in the US.

WikiLeaks’ lawyers are saying that the extradition documents for Assange to go to the US have either already been prepared or their preparation is in progress.

Assange’s supporters say that this is the case of huge double standards in the US – as they lecture other countries on their human rights situation whilst committing an act such as this.

‘WikiLeaks has managed to expose war criminals, corruption, humanitarian crimes, abuses of democracy, backroom dealings, and instead of those people being prosecuted, for what are serious crimes against humanity, instead we are trying to prosecute the person who is exposing these revelations,’ said Sharon Ward, a Justice for Assange campaigner.