Julian Assange extradition breaches legal principle, lawyer claims
The arrest warrant for Julian Assange should not stand and breaches "a matter of fundamental legal principle", the supreme court has heard .
Dinah Rose QC, appearing for the 40-year-old Australian founder of WikiLeaks in his final appeal against extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, told the panel of seven senior judges that to consider the Swedish public prosecutor as a judicial authority was "contrary to a basic, fundamental principle of law".
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"I submit that when one looks not only at the context within which the framework decision was made, but the way it evolved from 1999 to 2002 and 2003 with the UK legislation there is a very strong indication that the intention was that, as a safeguard, the warrant should be issued by a judicial authority acting independently and executing a judicial function," she said in summation of a two-and-a-half-hour session of legal argument.
"We also submit it is clear that issue was a matter of considerable concern to parliament and also one can infer was matter of concern to the Council of Ministers, which explains the rejection of the commission's original proposal … there was great concern the proposal was too broad."
more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/01/julian-assange-extradition?newsfeed=true
