Canberra, Dec 25 (ANI): An Australian Senator Scott Ludlam has embarked on a European mission to protect the human rights of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who continues fighting a legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crime charges.
Swedish authorities want to question Assange over accusations of rape and sexual assault made by two former female WikiLeaks volunteers during a visit to that country in August 2010.
Assange, who has been living in Britain since his arrest here in December last year, however, denies any wrongdoing, and is refusing to return to Sweden, fearing that the country will hand him over to the US, where his secret-leaking website is the subject of a major investigation.
During the time he spent in Sweden, Greens Senator for Western Australia Ludlam was able to meet justice officials and discuss the process faced by people being extradited to Sweden, News.com.au reports.
"For us it was a chance to get our heads clear about how it would work if and when (Assange) is ordered to return to Sweden. There is nothing out of the ordinary in that respect, if he is sent there, it appears his human rights will be protected," Ludlam said.
According to the report, Ludlam also saw photographs of the remand centre where Assange would be held while Swedish prosecutors decide if he will be charged and was given a full briefing about it.
But his hopes of securing a guarantee from the Swedish government that Assange would not be handed on to the US were not realised.
Ludlam, who meet Assange for several hours near London, said "logistical" issues led to Assange's recent relocation and he still wears an electronic tracking device and has to report daily to police as part of his bail conditions.
According to the report, Ludlam is planning to take the information he has learned in Stockholm to the Australian Parliament and seek cross-party support for the Government to do "everything possible to prevent this extradition". (ANI)
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