WikiLeaks' Assange resumes court battle over extradition (Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Feb 6, 2011, 2:06 GMT

London - When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange resumes his legal battle in London on Monday to fight his extradition to Sweden on sex offence allegations, those following the proceedings can be sure of a high-class courtroom drama.

The 39-year-old Australian - worshipped as a hero by his followers and portrayed as a devil by those hurt by his whistleblowing website leaks - has recruited some of Britain's top legal brains to argue his case.

Geoffrey Robertson, the high-profile, Australian-born human rights lawyer, and his British colleague, Mark Stephens, will argue, first and foremost, that their client's handover to Sweden would eventually deliver him into the hands of his greatest adversary, the US justice authorities.

They will also claim that the allegations made against Assange by two Swedish women are based on 'mere suspicion,' and that the vehicle used for the extradition process, the European Arrest Warrant, was not valid in this case.

The extradition request, they will argue, was aimed at Assange's 'vilification throughout the world' and at 'punishing him for his political opinion.'

On Monday, no doubt, Assange's high-profile supporters will turn out in force to back their hero and defend the principle of freedom of information.

But, the public and media backdrop against which the proceedings take place has changed markedly since Assange was first arrested in London on December 7.

Then, as the world was being shaken by daily front page news of the Cablegate revelations, and angry ministers stood up to condemn WikiLeaks' methods, Assange enjoyed near rockstar status, according to media commentators.

But then things quietened down, as Assange spent weeks on bail under virtual house arrest, obliged to wear an electronic tag, at a country mansion in Britain, preparing for his trial.

Assange also used some of the time to write an autobiography that would provide a 'highly personal' account of the 'global struggle to force a new relationship between the people and their governments.'

But, while Assange withdrew from public view, others have not been idle, and books about Assange and the WikiLeaks phenomenon have popped up in the US, Germany and Britain.

The latest, WikiLeaks - Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, written by Guardian correspondents David Leigh and Luke Harding, describes the Australian as 'one of the strangest figures ever to become a worldwide celebrity.'

The book reveals how Assange disguised himself as an old woman to shake off what he thought were secret service followers, and gives details about his childhood, including his birth father's true identity.

The book, published by the Guardian Media Group, at one point portrays Assange as a 'platinum-haired hacker' and asks whether he is an 'information freedom fighter or sex criminal?'

It expands on rows between Assange and Guardian staff, and on similar tensions with WikiLeaks' other media partners.

Coinciding with its publication, Assange ended his 'exclusive deal' with the liberal British newspaper, switching his allegiance to its political rival, the conservative Daily Telegraph.

After the break-up, Assange called the Guardian the 'slimiest media organization in the UK.'

In a BBC interview, the Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, praised his former negotiating partner's intelligence and strategic thinking, but said Assange had a 'slippery nature.'

'He can be extremely charming, engaging and constructive and, half-an-hour later, rather difficult and autocratic,' Rusbridger said.

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