A court in the UK has upheld an arrest warrant for founder of WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group Julian Assange, who is currently taking refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
After rejecting Assange’s latest attempt to have the warrant dropped, British Judge Emma Arbuthnot said Tuesday that she was “not persuaded” it should be withdrawn.
Asked by Assange’s lawyer Mark Summers if it was in the public interest to drop the charges, she said she would make a ruling on that on February 13.
Assange, who has been living in Ecuador’s embassy in London for five years, is accused of rape in Sweden. He filed his appeal to the court in late January.
The whistleblower has been living in the embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden after Swedish prosecutors issued a European arrest warrant against him.
Even if the warrant is finally withdrawn, it is not clear that Assange would leave the embassy.
He has denied the rape accusations, and…