WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange gets conditional bail

Assange has been in prison since Dec. 7,following his surrender to British police over a Swedish sex-crimes warrant. He denies wrongdoing but is refusing to surrender to Sweden’s request to extradite him for questioning.

Assange was granted a conditional release on 200,000 pounds ($316,000) bail on Tuesday,but prosecutors sought to keep him behind bars,arguing there was a risk he would flee.

WikiLeaks has provoked US fury by publishing part of a trove of 250,000 US diplomatic cables,including details of overseas sites that Washington regards as vital to its security.

Assange is fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct made by two female WikiLeaks volunteers,which he denies.

Within hours of Senior District Judge Howard Riddle’s decision on Tuesday to grant Assange bail,prosecutors gave notice they would appeal,forcing him to return to prison.

He was pictured giving a defiant victory sign as he arrived at court for Thursday’s hearing in the back of a police van.

There was some confusion over whether Britain or Sweden was behind the bid to deny him bail. A spokeswoman for Sweden’s prosecution authority said the case was in British hands.

Britain’s Director of Public Prosecutions told BBC radio they had been acting as the agents for the Swedish government but declined to comment on the specifics of the case.

A full extradition hearing is expected in early February.

The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors were looking for evidence that Assange had conspired with a former US Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified documents in order to bring charges against him.

Legal experts say that,in the event that the United States did prosecute him,it would be easier to extradite him from Britain — which has a fast-track extradition treaty with Washington — than from Sweden.

If Assange was extradited to Sweden on the sex crime allegations,Sweden could not then extradite him to the United States to face hypothetical charges over the leak of classified information without getting Britain’s permission,Geoff Gilbert,a law professor at the University of Essex,told Reuters.