Assange To Speak At Cambridge Union

WikiLeaks founder Julien Assange will speak to Cambridge University students on 15 March, his first public address in several months, according to a student newspaper.

The Cambridge University paper, the Cambridge Tab, said in a Sunday report that Assange will speak to students about his life and career. The student union will offer some people the opportunity to meet Assange after the talk.

Extradition

Assange has filed an appeal against a ruling last month demanding he be extradited to Sweden on sexual offence charges.

Assange is accused of counts of sexual assault and rape in Stockholm, but has said the charges are part of a wider campaign to discredit him.

In his extradition ruling, District Judge Howard Riddle rejected arguments that Assange would not get a fair trial in Sweden, where the press and public are excluded from sexual assault trials.

This is despite the Swedish prime minister recently calling Assange ‘public enemy number one’.

‘Rubber-stamping process’

A legal expert believes Assange’s appeal will probably fail. This is because the chance of successfully contesting a European arrest warrant is “very, very small”, said Neill Blundell, a lawyer with Eversheds LLP in London, quoted by Bloomberg.

Speaking outside the court to the press, Assange hit back and denounced the decision as “a rubber-stamping process that comes as no surprise, that is nonetheless wrong.”