UK's top court backs extradition of Assange

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Britain's Supreme Court has endorsed the extradition of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to Sweden, bringing the secret-spilling Internet activist a big step closer to prosecution in a Scandinavian court.

Assange, 40, has spent the better part of two years fighting attempts to send him to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in sex crime allegations. He has not been charged there.

The UK side of that struggle appeared to come to a messy end on Wednesday, with the nation's highest court ruling 5-2 that the warrant seeking his arrest was properly issued - and Assange's lawyer arguing that the case should be reopened.

Even if the Supreme Court refuses to revisit its judgment, Assange could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, although extradition experts have said such a maneuver would be unlikely to block his removal to Sweden for long.

If the ruling stands, it would mark a low point in Assange's career. The former computer hacker shot to international prominence in 2010 with the release of hundreds of thousands of secret US documents, including a hard-to-watch video that showed US forces gunning down a crowd of Iraqi civilians and journalists that they'd mistaken for insurgents.

His release of 250,000 classified US State Department cables in the final months of that year outraged Washington and destabilized US diplomacy worldwide.

But his work exposing government secrets increasingly came under a cloud after two Swedish women accused him of molestation and rape following a visit to the country in mid-2010. Assange denies wrongdoing, saying the sex was consensual, but has refused to go to Sweden, claiming he won't get a fair trial there.

He and his supporters have also hinted that the sex allegations are a cover for a planned move to extradite him to the United States, where he claims he's been secretly indicted for the WikiLeaks disclosures.

Questions:

1. What is the name of WikiLeaks founder?

2. How old is he?

3. How many classified documents did he release?

Answers:

1. Julian Assange.

2. 40.

3. Hundreds of thousands of secret US documents.

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.