Wikileaks’ Julian Assange loses UK appeal case

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday lost his appeal case before a British court to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces sexual misconduct charges. Assange said that he and his legal team will now consider their next steps, including whether to try to take his extradition case to Britain's Supreme Court.

British High Court appeal judges "rejected Assange's claims that it would be unfair and unlawful to send him to Scandinavia to be questioned over the alleged rape of one woman and the molestation of another in Stockholm last year," the AP reported Wednesday.

"We will be considering our next steps in the days ahead," Assange said outside the court after the ruling Wednesday. Assange's legal team has two weeks to decide whether to file papers to try to take the case to Britain's high court.

That process means Assange will remain in Britain for now. Under the terms of his bail, he is confined to "a friend's country estate in southern England," the AP report said.

Assange, 40, has contended the Swedish rape charges are trumped up, part of an American-led conspiracy to persecute Wikileaks, his anti-secrecy group which has released tens of thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables. Wikileaks has recently stopped publishing new cables, citing financial difficulties.

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