Support for Assange

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: A former Swedish prosecutor, testifying on behalf of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange in a London court on Tuesday, questioned the validity of attempts to extradite him to Sweden to answer allegations of sexual assault.

Sven-Erik Alhem disagreed with Mr. Assange's legal team that if extradited Swedish authorities could hand him to Americans who want to prosecute him for releasing confidential documents. He also said if he were in Mr. Assange's “shoes'' he would have gone to Sweden to give his version of events.

“It would be very important to me to clear my name given I was innocent,” Mr. Alhem replied when asked what he would have done in a similar situation.

As the hearing resumed on the second day, Mr. Alhem claimed that Swedish authorities did not follow “proper procedure'' in investigating the allegations. Marianne Ny, Swedish prosecutor, “should have made sure Mr. Assange was able to give his version of events in detail”, he said.

He also argued that Mr. Assange could be questioned in London with Swedish investigators present.

Mr. Alhem, who flew in from Sweden, insisted that he had not met Mr. Assange before and was only interested in seeing justice done.

Mr. Assange (39), has been accused of improper sexual conduct by two Swedish women he befriended in Stockholm last August. He denies the allegations.

“A black box has been applied to my life. On the outside of that box has been written the word rape.

“That box is now, thanks to an open court process, being opened,'' Mr. Assange told reporters.