UK: SC rejects Julian Assange's plea against extradition

London: The British Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's plea against extradition. Assange will be extradited to Sweden on sexual assault charges.

The judge said that the decision was reached with a majority of five to two. Assange wasn't present in the court on Wednesday. "The request for Assange's extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly is dismissed," said Supreme Court president Nicholas Phillips.

Assange has the only option of move the European Court of Human rights (ECHR). The ECHR will then have 14 days to indicate whether or not it will accept the case.

The British top court ruled that Assange should be sent to the Scandinavian country to face sex crimes allegations. Assange can conceivably appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights but lawyers say such a move is unlikely to stop his extradition for long.

Two Swedish women had accused Assange of molestation and rape following a visit to the country in 2010.

Assange, 40, has been fighting attempts to send him to the Scandinavian nation, where he is accused of sex crimes.

Australia-born Assange has denied wrongdoing, saying the sex was consensual and had refused to go to Sweden, saying he doesn't believe he'll get a fair trial there.

Assange is best known for revealing hundreds of thousands of secret US documents, including a hard-to-watch video that captured US forces gunning down a crowd of Iraqi civilians and journalists that they'd mistaken for insurgents. His release of a quarter-million classified State Department cables outraged Washington and destabilized American diplomacy worldwide.

With Additional Inputs from Associated Press

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)