LONDON — Britain’s Supreme Court said Friday it had agreed to hear WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition to Sweden over sex-crimes allegations.
The court said a panel of three judges had considered a written submission and granted a two-day appeal beginning Feb. 1, meaning there is no prospect of Assange being sent to Stockholm until at least next year.
In a statement, the court said it had “decided that seven justices will hear the appeal given the great public importance of the issue raised, which is whether a prosecutor is a judicial authority.”
Assange, who founded the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website, was accused of rape, coercion and molestation after encounters with two Swedish women in August 2010. Swedish authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant on rape and molestation accusations, and Assange was arrested in London in December 2010.
The 40-year-old denies any wrongdoing. The Associated Press
