Despite Assange Detention, WikiLeaks Operations Continue

British Court Denies Bail on Grounds Assange Has 'Ability' to Leave Country

In what must be one of the oddest bail standards in modern history, a British judge denied bail to whistleblower Julian Assange today on the grounds that he has the ability to leave the country “if he wants to” and therefore poses a flight risk.

Assange’s arrest is related to some ill-defined sexual offences against two women with whom he had consensual sex. The Swedish government still considers him a “suspect” and has been probing the allegations for months. Despite WikiLeaks lawyers apparently offering to make Assange available for questioning the Swedish government issued an international arrest warrant against him.

Despite the detention of their extremely high profile founder, WikiLeaks insists its operations will continue unaffected for the time being. Assange plans to contest the extradition to Sweden and warned that if something were to happen to him the “insurance” file WikiLeaks released would be opened to the general public.

US officials cheered Assange’s arrest, though British officials insisted the arrest was totally unrelated to WikiLeaks itself. A number of top US officials including presidential hopefuls are still calling for Assange’s assassination on the grounds that revealing embarrassing truths about top officials makes him a “terrorist.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.