Court to decide whether to free WikiLeaks boss

A BRITISH court will decide today whether to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has become the scourge of the US establishment, on £200,000 (€234,500) bail over accusations of sex crimes in Sweden.

Assange, who has outraged the US authorities by releasing hundreds of secret diplomatic cables, was granted bail on Tuesday but prosecutors immediately challenged the ruling and he remains in a London jail.

Assange is expected to appear in the dock as he has been granted permission to attend.

The case will be heard in England’s High Court in London. A lawyer for Assange, a 39-year-old Australian computer expert, said earlier yesterday his backers had raised around half of the cash he needs to secure bail.

Lawyer Mark Stephens said ordinary members of the public wanted to contribute to the fund to release him. “We have to come up with £200,000 in pound notes and that is difficult to come by,” lawyer Mark Stephens told BBC News.

“We’ve got about half of that right now,” he said.

Prominent public figures including US film-maker Michael Moore, Australian journalist John Pilger and author Hanif Kureishi have pledged their support for Assange.

“I’m getting offers from the general public who are coming in and saying we really would like to contribute to this, Julian Assange shouldn’t be in jail,” Stephens said.

Assange and his lawyers have voiced fears that US prosecutors may be preparing to indict him for espionage over WikiLeaks’ publication of the documents.

Assange is fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct made by two female WikiLeaks volunteers, which he denies.

Stephens has accused the Swedish authorities of trying to conduct a “show trial” to persecute his client.

“Why is it that Swedish authorities are so dead set that Julian Assange spends Christmas in jail. Do they have the genes of Scrooge?” Stephens said.

Assange’s bail conditions say he must stay at a country house in eastern England owned by a supporter, report to police daily and wear an electronic tag.

The court has asked for a further £40,000 in guarantees which would have to be paid were he to disappear.

He remains a significant flight risk and no conditions that the court can impose could prevent his flight,” prosecution lawyer Gemma Lindfield, representing the Swedish authorities, told the court hearing on Tuesday.

Despite Assange’s legal problems, WikiLeaks continues to drip feed some of the 250,000 cables it has obtained, working with newspapers around the globe to amplify their impact.

WikiLeaks’ sympathisers have attacked the websites of credit card companies which they accuse of supporting efforts to silence the organisation.