Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks has been released on bail. Some difficulties arose as financial guarantees from his supporters were needed to be signed in person by supporters at the police station. These are to guarantee that if Julian Assange does not return at the end of his bail term that they will indeed be liable for payment. This resulted in a delay in his release. Many high profile supporters contributed to the bail, set at 240,000.
Upon his release Julian Assange spoke to a sea of waiting journalists and said that he wanted to thank "all the people around the world who have had faith in me who have supported my team while I have been away." Nine days in prison has only increased his support amongst his admirers. Many Americans continue to want him jailed.
He was granted bail on the 14th but was kept for two days following an appeal by the Swedish court that there was a substantial risk of Julian Assange jumping bail. Assange's lawyer claimed that this appeal was "part of a continued vendetta against Julian Assange."
Assange's next appearance in court is due on January 11th when he can start to appeal his extradition notice. Conditions of his bail were discussed at length until they were finally agreed upon by both sides.
As the argument rages pro-WIkileaks hacker group 'Anonymous' have targeted sites such as PayPal, MasterCard, Amazon and EveryDNS with DDoS cyber hacking attacks in vengeance for actions against Wikileaks, resulting in the whistleblowing site being removed from cyberspace.
Julian Assange was arrested on 7 December after claims of rape by two Swedish women one aged 26, the other 31. The rape investigation was opened in 20 August 2010. Not long afterward, Eva Finne, the chief prosecutor, withdrew the arrest warrant declaring "I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape." Investigations continued in Sweden regarding a possible harassment charge. Assange denied all allegations and claims consensual sexual relations with the two women, insisting that these allegations are part of a smear campaign attempting to assassinate his character.
Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny re-opened the rape investigation on September 1 due to new information coming to light and on 30 November a Red Notice for “sex crimes” in Sweden was issued against Julian Assange. He was then arrested at a voluntary meeting by London Metropolitan police until bail was granted.
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Clare Jackson - Clare enjoys research and has a range of interests. With a background in scientific writing she likes to include lots of information in ...
