{"id":1566,"date":"2012-06-01T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/hlpr\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:23:10","slug":"wikileaks-founder-loses-extradition-case-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2012\/06\/01\/wikileaks-founder-loses-extradition-case-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Wikileaks Founder Loses Extradition Case in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By\u00a0Sushila Rao<\/p>\n<p><\/em>By a majority of 5 to 2, the justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120626183451\/http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/media\/blog\/2012\/may\/30\/julian-assange-extradition-verdict-live-coverage\">voted<\/a>to dismiss Wikileaks founder Julian Assange\u2019s appeal against extradition from the UK to Sweden, for questioning about allegations of sexual offenses. \u00a0The Court\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120626183451\/http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-18260914\">held<\/a>\u00a0that the term \u201cjudicial authority\u201d\u2014which has warrant power under the European framework and under the UK\u2019s 2003 Extradition Act\u2014includes public prosecutors. \u00a0Thus the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued for Mr. Assange by the Swedish Prosecution Authority in November 2010 is valid.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThis might pave the way for Mr. Assange\u2014an Australian citizen\u2014to be eventually extradited to the USA, where he could face a range of charges against him over Wikileaks, including espionage and conspiracy. \u00a0He has been linked to the case against US Army private Bradley Manning, who faces court martial over 22 alleged offenses, including \u201caiding the enemy\u201d by leaking classified documents to Wikileaks.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, in a rather unusual occurrence, Mr. Assange has been given 14 days to challenge a\u00a0central point of\u00a0the apex court ruling, relating to the correct interpretation of international treaties. \u00a0Court watchers have observed that the Court appears prepared to consider whether arguments about the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120626183451\/http:\/\/untreaty.un.org\/ilc\/texts\/instruments\/english\/conventions\/1_1_1969.pdf\">Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties<\/a>\u00a0were sufficiently raised during the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the controversy relates to Article 31.3 of the Vienna Convention, which states that treaties can be interpreted bearing in mind the \u201csubsequent practice\u201d of their application. \u00a0Mr.\u00a0Assange\u2019s lawyers contend that several justices relied on this principle of subsequent practice in holding that a public prosecutor had become accepted across Europe\u00a0as a judicial authority. \u00a0\u201dSecurity concerns\u201d meant that the judgment was not circulated beforehand, so Mr. Assange\u2019s lawyers did not receive it in time to make representations at an earlier stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Sushila Rao By a majority of 5 to 2, the justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court have\u00a0votedto dismiss Wikileaks 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