London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will fight a British judge's decision to extradite him to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault in a two-day hearing in July, it was announced on Wednesday.
The hearing at the High Court in London will take place on July 12-13, the court said.
Assange is appealing after District Judge Howard Riddle ruled in February that extradition to Sweden would not breach his human rights.
The Australian former computer hacker says the claims made against him by two women he met during a seminar in Sweden last year are politically motivated because of WikiLeaks' work in releasing thousands of sensitive documents.
WikiLeaks has published thousands of cables in which US diplomats give their often candid views on world leaders, to Washington's acute embarrassment.
It has also leaked thousands of secret documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The founder of the whistleblowing website has claimed his greatest fear is eventual extradition to the United States.
Assange, who was arrested in London at Sweden's request in December, remains on bail. He must live on a friend's country estate in eastern England and observe a strict curfew.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, April 07, 2011, 16:40