London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
on Tuesday asked the High Court to block his "legally flawed"
extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.
Lawyers for Assange challenged a ruling by District
Judge Howard Riddle at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south
London that extradition should go ahead.
Ben Emmerson, lawyer appearing for Assange, 40, told
two judges the European arrest warrant on which he was being
held was flawed because it failed to provide "a fair, accurate
and proper" description of the alleged sexual misconduct.
Assange, according to Emmerson, was a victim of a
"philosophical and judicial mismatch" between English and
Swedish law on what constituted sex crimes.
He is wanted by the Swedish prosecution authority to
answer questions on three allegations of sexual assault and
one of rape, reported to have been committed in Stockholm last
August.
The accusations were made by two female WikiLeaks
volunteers.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 21:10