Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was in a British jail last night after being arrested in London on allegations he sexually assaulted two women in Sweden.
Mr Assange, 39, an Australian, whose organisation is in the midst of publishing a quarter of a million secret US diplomatic cables, surrendered to police yesterday after Scotland Yard received an Interpol arrest warrant on Monday.
A few hours later, he appeared in court in London for a preliminary hearing on extradition to Sweden, where he is facing charges including rape and sexual molestation, alleged to have been committed when he visited Stockholm in August.
Mr Assange, who gave his home address to the court as Australia, said that he would fight extradition, but his application for bail was rejected.
District Judge Howard Riddle said he was refusing bail because there was a risk that Mr Assange would fail to surrender despite offers to stand surety from several well-known personalities including Jemima Khan, the sister of the Tory MP Zac Goldsmith, the film director Ken Loach and the veteran journalist John Pilger.
The judge ordered Mr Assange to appear again before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, though the extradition process could take months to run its course.
After the hearing, his legal team said that they would be making a renewed application to get Mr Assange freed, probably today.
Mr Assange, who denies the allegations and says that his sexual encounters with the two women were consensual, told The Guardian newspaper last week that he believed the charges were politically motivated to silence the embarrassing leaks his organisation has been publishing.
His lawyers also fear that if he is taken from the UK to Sweden it will be easier for US authorities to extradite him. Peter King, Republican US Congressman from New York who is the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, reiterated his call yesterday for Mr Assange to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, was informed of Mr Assange's arrest by reporters during a visit to Afghanistan. "It sounds like good news to me," Mr Gates said.
Mr King said he wanted the US to demand the extradition of Mr Assange.
Leading Democrats, including California's Dianne Feinstein, have echoed this view, and Eric Holder, the US attorney general, has said he has authorised "significant" action related to a criminal investigation of WikiLeaks, saying US national security has been put at risk.
Mr Assange's arrest came after a decision on Monday by PostFinance, the bank of the Swiss post office, to close Assange's €31,000 (Dh152,000) account there on the grounds that he was not, as he had claimed, a permanent resident of Geneva.
WikiLeaks itself has been the subject of cyber attacks recently. Additionally, two US internet providers have pulled the plug on the website and the French government has tried to ban servers from hosting the database.
Mr Assange has reacted by saying that, in case he is arrested or assassinated, he has taken out "poison pill insurance" by posting a host of classified documents, including damaging revelations about Guantanamo Bay and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in encrypted form on various websites.
He says that WikiLeaks staff have been instructed to distribute the secret pass phrase necessary to unlock the encryptions should anything happen to him, though his arrest yesterday is not considered likely to trigger such a move.
Although Mark Stephens, his British lawyer, describes the charges in Sweden as "a political stunt" aimed at silencing his client, the UK authorities say they had no option but to act after receiving the Interpol warrant.
In fact, Sweden applied to have Mr Assange extradited from the UK last month but the paperwork was not properly drawn up.
The error was the latest in a confusing series of events that has surrounded the sexual assault claims. The two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 30s, went to the authorities after each had met Mr Assange and had sex with him while he was in Stockholm attending a conference.
Initially, a prosecutor agreed that Mr Assange should be sought on suspicion of rape but was overruled by the chief prosecutor, who said that Mr Assange was not wanted in Sweden for any offences.
The two women then instructed a lawyer of their own, who pressed the Swedish authorities to take action and, last month, a warrant for Mr Assange's arrest was issued.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, a WikiLeaks spokesperson, told Reuters yesterday that Mr Assange's legal problems would not stop the release of more secret files.
"Wikileaks is operational. We are continuing on the same track as laid out before. Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today and in the coming days."
dsapsted@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Omar Karmi in Washington.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
A cheaper choice
Vanuatu: $130,000
Why on earth pick Vanuatu? Easy. The South Pacific country has no income tax, wealth tax, capital gains or inheritance tax. And in 2015, when it was hit by Cyclone Pam, it signed an agreement with the EU that gave it some serious passport power.
Cost: A minimum investment of $130,000 for a family of up to four, plus $25,000 in fees.
Criteria: Applicants must have a minimum net worth of $250,000. The process take six to eight weeks, after which the investor must travel to Vanuatu or Hong Kong to take the oath of allegiance. Citizenship and passport are normally provided on the same day.
Benefits: No tax, no restrictions on dual citizenship, no requirement to visit or reside to retain a passport. Visa-free access to 129 countries.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
UK%20record%20temperature
%3Cp%3E38.7C%20(101.7F)%20set%20in%20Cambridge%20in%202019%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The%20Secret%20Kingdom%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Matt%20Drummond%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlyla%20Browne%2C%20Alice%20Parkinson%2C%20Sam%20Everingham%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially