Julian Assange to be freed on bail in Britain

LONDON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was Thursday granted bail by a judge in Britain, pending proceedings to extradite him to Sweden, the High Court said.

The ruling, which dismissed an appeal against an earlier bail decision, means that Assange will remain in Britain under strict bail conditions. The extradition case is due to open Jan 11.

The bail of 200,000 pounds ($312,000), which had to be provided in cash, was put up by prominent human right campaigners, authors and film directors, including Michael Moore and Ken Loach.

The bail ruling is subject to stringent conditions. Assange will have to surrender his passport and observe a daily curfew which will be monitored by an electronic tag.

The 39-year-old Australian was detained in London after turning himself in at a police station Dec 7, on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant (EWA) issued by Sweden. He is wanted in Sweden on allegations of sex offences against two women.

His supporters maintain that the allegations - denied by Assange - are “politically motivated” and aimed at targeting WikiLeaks for its online publications of secret US government documents.

Earlier, Assange’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, said he was confident that the bail sum would be available later Thursday. Two sureties of 20,000 pounds each have also been requested.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that federal prosecutors in the US are seeking to build a case against Assange on possible espionage charges for his role in obtaining and distributing classified information.

WikiLeaks last month launched the publication of more than 250,000 top secret cables from the US state department.