An English Christmas for Julian Assange as fight goes on (Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Dec 16, 2010, 17:54 GMT

London - For Julian Assange - accustomed as he is to a hurly-burly lifestyle - going from being incarcerated in a Victorian jail to spending Christmas at an English country mansion is a remarkable contrast.

Within the space of a week, the 39-year-old Australian has suffered the inconvenience of being held in a prison cell once reputed to have been occupied by Oscar Wilde, to enjoying the comforts of a sprawling country estate.

During his enforced stay at Ellingham Hall, in the picturesque countryside of Suffolk in south-east England, the WikiLeaks founder will be under strict surveillance from the authorities.

His bail conditions require that he should surrender his passport, report to the police daily, be under a partial curfew and wear an electronic tag.

The estate, and large organic farm, is owned by Vaughan Smith, a former British army officer turned war correspondent. Smith also runs the Frontline Club in London, a centre to promote independence and transparency in journalism, where Assange was given shelter ahead of his arrest on December 7.

But lawyers representing the controversial founder of the whistleblowing website said they were relieved that no restrictions were placed on Assange's ability to communicate with his WikiLeaks organization and its fans.

He will, however, not have too much time to do that, as his priority will be to prepare for a lengthy legal fight to stop his extradition to Sweden, where Assange is wanted on sex offence allegations made by two women.

Assange denies the claims, saying that they are based on a dispute over 'consensual but unprotected sex.' Extradition proceedings are due to begin early next year.

Compared with the legal tussle over whether Assange should be granted bail or not, which has now been resolved, the extradition fight was the 'real battle' for Assange, his supporters say.

Assange will use his time in Suffolk to prepare his case, in which he will attempt to prove that the Swedish request is politically motivated, according to his lawyers.

He will be required to name witnesses and supply documentary evidence - something that could be hard to do in connection with a rape allegation.

Legal commentators in Britain are pointing out that - under the European Arrest Warrant (EWA), which formed the basis for Assange's arrest, fighting an extradition request can be difficult.

The fast-track EWA system was designed by the European Union to ease extraditions to member states in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001.

Individuals can be handed over to countries with 'similar legal standards' without the presentation of prima facie evidence to the courts - provided that the offence is a crime in both countries.

As Assange faces weeks, if not months, of legal wrangling in Britain in 2011, his supporters fear that their suspicions of a 'political dimension' to his case could be confirmed.

Lawyers for Assange, and his backers, have consistently maintained that the Swedish request to arrest and extradite him was made at 'the behest of the US.'

Their fears will have been further fuelled by a report in the New York Times Thursday that US federal prosecutors are hard at work building a case against Assange.

They would attempt to prove that Assange had early direct contact with an army intelligence analyst suspected of having supplied some of the damaging information published by WikiLeaks, said the paper.

'That is the real threat in this case,' John Pilger, a journalist and leading Assange supporter said in London Thursday.

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