Wikileaks founder set to be arrested at English hideout as warrant issued

Published on Monday 6 December 2010 15:52

A FRESH warrant for the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was last night received by police in the UK, as a Swiss bank froze his accounts.

The 39-year-old Australian is believed to be in hiding in the south-east of England. It is expected he will soon be apprehended after Scotland Yard received the paperwork required from Sweden to hold him.

It came amid scathing worldwide criticism of the whistle-blowing website over its latest publication of diplomatic documents, identifying hundreds of facilities around the globe that are key for US security.

The UK and US governments said it could pose a threat to national security.

Mark Stephens, Mr Assange's lawyer, said he would fight any moves to extradite his client.

Detectives in Sweden want to question Mr Assange after two women claimed they were sexually attacked when he visited the country in August.

The Swedish supreme court upheld a court order to detain Mr Assange for questioning after he appealed against two lower court rulings.

Mr Stephens has denounced the move as a "political stunt" and insisted he would fight extradition on the grounds that Mr Assange could then be handed to the US.

He said police knew where his client was and should arrange for an interview by consent instead of a "show trial".

The solicitor went on: "I am rather worried by the political motivations that appear to be behind this.

"It doesn't escape me that Sweden was one of those lick-spittle states which used its resources and facilities for rendition flights."

The Australian's details were added to Interpol's most-wanted website after a red notice was issued, alerting police worldwide to his outlaw status.

The sex assault allegations are Mr Assange's most pressing legal issue but may not be his last as several countries consider the impact of his diplomatic cable disclosures.

He has come under growing pressure after Wikileaks started publishing excerpts from a cache of 250,000 secret messages.

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described him as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands", while another senior Republican, Mike Huckabee, said "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty".

Wikileaks has been forced to move to a Swiss internet host after being dumped by US companies as it comes under siege from a series of cyber attacks.

Switzerland's PostFinance has now frozen Wikileaks' accounts, in the latest setback for the website since it began publishing the US cables last week. Wikileaks says the freeze affected a defence fund and personal assets worth €31,000 (26,000).

On its website, PostFinance said Mr Assange had "provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process.

"(Mr] Assange entered Geneva as his domicile. Upon inspection, this information was found to be incorrect.

"[Mr] Assange cannot provide proof of residence in Switzerland and thus does not meet the criteria for a customer relationship with PostFinance. For this reason, PostFinance is entitled to close his account."

For its part, Wikileaks claims the website and Mr Assange have lost €100,000 in assets in a week.

"Late last week, the internet payment giant PayPal froze €60,000 of donations to the German charity the Wau Holland Foundation, which were targeted to promote the sharing of knowledge via Wikileaks," a spokesman for the site said.