Assange extradition gang rape - mom

2011-02-24 18:05

Sydney - The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange condemned on Thursday a court order for his extradition to Sweden as "political and legal gang rape", the Australian Associated Press reported.

A British judge ruled on Thursday that the 39-year-old Australian can be extradited to face rape and sexual assault claims, dismissing arguments that he would face an unfair trial.

"I would say that what we're looking at here is political and legal gang rape of my son," AAP quoted Christine Assange as saying.

"It's a real David and Goliath situation," she said.

"You've got misuse of the European arrest warrant, first time ever that it's been used this way."

Former computer hacker Assange says the claims against him, made by two women he met during a seminar organised by his whistleblowing website in August last year, are politically motivated because of the work of WikiLeaks.

Assange rocked the world's diplomatic institutions and infuriated Washington last year when WikiLeaks began releasing more than 250 000 secret diplomatic cables sent by US embassy staff.

"What Julian through his site is proving (is) the need for WikiLeaks," his mother said. "I'm, obviously, scared for him as a mother but the world ought to be scared for its democracies."

She said that she had expected the extradition order, and that her son felt abandoned by the Australian government.

"The greatest fear I have is that the Western world in its effort to shut up someone who's telling the truth to the people of their countries will breach every piece of legislation in order to get him and will co-operate across borders to do so."

- AFP