[LINK] Robertson to defend Assange

[Jan Whitaker]

Geoffrey Robertson to defend Assange

Paola Totaro, London, Dylan Welch and Joel Gibson
December 8, 2010 - 3:00AM
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AUSTRALIAN-BORN human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, QC, has cut 
short his summer holiday in Sydney to represent WikiLeaks founder 
Julian Assange after he turns himself in to British police.

Mr Robertson and another specialist extradition lawyer from his 
Doughty Street Chambers are to act for Mr Assange who was expected to 
surrender to police late yesterday and appear in a magistrate's court 
to argue for bail. A full hearing of the extradition case must be 
heard within 28 days.

But London legal sources warned that the European arrest warrant 
issued for Mr Assange over sexual assault claims in Sweden is 
difficult to ''avoid or challenge''. He and his lawyers plan to fight 
the extradition with every available resource. There is growing fear 
that this case could lead to a hand-over to US authorities in the 
wake of the release of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

The Age believes that Mr Robertson, whose chambers are one of the few 
with a specialist in extradition proceedings with Scandinavian 
nations, has been in contact with Assange about his defence and met 
federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland about the case.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/geoffrey-robertson-to-defend-assange-20101207-18oc6.html


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

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