UK court keeps Assange arrest warrant in place

A British court yesterday ruled to keep in place an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, thwarting a bid that could have paved the way for him to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has spent the last five and a half years.

"I'm not persuaded that the warrant should be withdrawn," judge Emma Arbuthnot said in criminal court in London, reading out her decision.

But Arbuthnot was still considering a further application from Assange's lawyers that the arrest warrant be scrapped on public interest grounds.

Assange entered the embassy in June 2012 to dodge a European arrest warrant and extradition to Sweden over a 2010 probe in the Scandinavian country into rape and sexual assault allegations.

Sweden dropped its investigation last year, but British police are still seeking to arrest Assange for failing to surrender to a court after violating his bail terms during his unsuccessful battle against extradition.

Assange's lawyer Mark Summers had argued in court last week that the warrant had "lost its purpose and its function".

He said Assange had been living in conditions "akin to imprisonment" and his "psychological health" has deteriorated and was "in serious peril".

The court heard that the 46-year-old was suffering from a bad tooth, a frozen shoulder and depression.

But prosecutor Aaron Watkins called Assange's court bid "absurd".

"The proper approach is that when a discrete, standalone offence of failing to surrender occurs, it always remains open to this court to secure the arrest," Watkins    said.

Assange has refused to leave the embassy, claiming he fears being extradited to the United States over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.