Australian-born lawyer and civil rights defender Geoffrey Robertson QC has called on the Australian Government to come to the aid of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, following yesterday’s UK High Court decision dismissing his appeal against extradition to Sweden to face so-called “minor rape” allegations brought by two Swedish women.
Australian-born lawyer and civil rights defender Geoffrey Robertson QC has called on the Australian Government to come to the aid of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, following yesterday’s UK High Court decision dismissing his appeal against extradition to Sweden to face so-called “minor rape” allegations brought by two Swedish women.
Assange remains on bail pending a decision on a possible further appeal to the UK Supreme Court. He has 14 days to consider whether to lodge the appeal.
Robertson – pictured – speaking from London, last night told ABC-TV’s Lateline program he believed Assange could appeal on the grounds that the warrant seeking his extradition was signed by “a prosecutor who rather likes publicity and [is] rather determined to get after him, an over-zealous prosecutor. So, that’s a point he might get up on in the Supreme Court in Britain and that would keep him at liberty for another six months or so. But if he doesn’t get that point certified, then he may be patting reindeers by Christmas.”
Robertson said that, more importantly, if extradited Assange would be held in the notorious Gothenburg Prison, tried in secret and possibly extradited again to the USA, where he might face a death penalty.
He added: “Canberra may have to do something about it. It’s got a duty to help Australians in peril in foreign courts. It didn’t do anything for David Hicks and that was something of a disgrace.”
