Rape, sex case: Court grants Assange's extradition appeal

London, Dec 17: WikiLeaks' founder, Julian Assange must be very happy when it has been quite cleared that he is not going to be extradited to Sweden at least not till Feb 2012.

Delivering its judgment on an appeal by Assange, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (UK) on Friday, Dec 16 agreed to hear Assange's appeal against extradition to Sweden over rape and sex crimes allegations. The court also considered a written submission and granted a 2-day appeal beginning on Feb 1, 2012.

The court stated, "it (the court) 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."

Earlier a court in London ordered Assange's extradition to Sweden over the same rape and sex crime case. Assange was ordered to extradited to Sweden to face questioning by Swedish authorities over the allegations made by two women.

However, Assange had confessed that he had sex with one of the women but denied the allegation that he raped her. The WikiLeaks founder also claimed that all allegations against him were politically motivated.

The former hacker caught the world's attention when WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of classified diplomatic files allegedly obtained by a US serviceman who is now in prison in the United States.

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