WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange could spend a year in Britain fighting extradition



Not going anywhere: Legal experts say Julian Assange's extradition battle could last at least a year

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could spend at least a year in Britain battling against extradition.



The 39-year-old Australian remains behind bars tonight after Swedish prosecutors demanded he be handed over for allegedly sexually assaulting two women.



His legal team, led by leading human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and backed by celebrity supporters, will make another application for bail when he appears in court next Tuesday.



But the fight may last many months in the British courts and eventually end up before the European Court of Human Rights.



His lawyer Mark Stephens - who has dismissed the extradition bid as politically motivated - had a brief three minute telephone call yesterday to Wandsworth prison, where Mr Assange is being held.



He said: 'He was very upbeat, boosted by the massive support he is receiving and the fact that people are beginning to realise that the honeytrap has been sprung.'



'He is being treated perfectly properly and he very much wants to face down these allegations.'



Mr Assange was refused bail after his arrest, with Swedish authorities arguing that he was likely to fail to answer to conditions imposed to ensure he did not abscond.



But Mr Stephens said: 'He knew the arrest warrant was coming and he didn’t run away and when it arrived he handed himself into police with nine hours notice.

'He is not a man who is running away.



'He is a man of enormous fortitude who is going to see this out.'



He is wanted in Sweden to answer four charges of sexual assault, which his supporters say are part of a plot against Mr Assange, who has angered the U.S. by publishing huge numbers of secret diplomatic cables.



Compliance: Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, pointed out his client did not run from the impending arrest warrant

The lawyer for the two Swedish women making the sex crime allegations insisted they are not involved in any politically motivated attack.



Speaking in Stockholm, Claes Borgstrom said: 'It has nothing to with WikiLeaks or the CIA', adding that it was 'More than 50/50' that Sweden would eventually press charges on Mr Assange.



The WikiLeaks founder defended the internet publishing of the U.S. documents, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to a global media magnate in the quest to public the truth.



Separate issues: Claes Borgstrom, the lawyer for the two Swedish women, say the arrest warrant has nothing to do with WikiLeaks or the CIA

Under an article in an Australian newspaper today headlined 'Don’t shoot the messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths,' Mr Assange said WikiLeaks deserves protection, not threats and attacks.



He received backing from Australia’s foreign minister Kevin Rudd, himself described as a mistake-prone control freak in one of the leaked U.S. cables.



Mr Rudd said : 'Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network.



'The Americans are responsible for that.



'I think there are real questions to be asked about the adequacy of their security systems and the level of access that people have had to that material over a long period of time.'



Mr Assange’s estranged son Daniel, 20, a Melbourne-based software developer, pleaded for his father to be treated 'fairly and apolitically,' adding: 'I’m hoping this isn’t just an intermediary step towards his extradition to the U.S..'

