LONDON —Britain’s Supreme Court has endorsed the extradition of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to Sweden, bringing the secret-spilling Internet activist a big step closer to prosecution in a Scandinavian court.
But a question mark hung over the decision after Assange’s lawyer made the highly unusual suggestion that she would try to reopen the case, raising the prospect of more legal wrangling.
Assange, 40, has spent the better part of two years fighting attempts to send him to Sweden, where he is wanted over sex-crime allegations. He has yet to be charged.
The U.K. side of that struggle came to an uncertain end Wednesday, with the nation’s highest court ruling 5-2 that the warrant seeking his arrest was properly issued.
Assange lawyer Dinah Rose complained that the court’s ruling largely relied on a treaty whose interpretation she says she never had the chance to challenge.
In a surprise move, she requested extra time to study the judgment with an eye toward trying to reopen the case. The Associated Press
