| By Maureen O'Gara |
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| December 6, 2010 07:15 PM EST |
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WikiLeaks organizer Julian Assange is apparently going to turn himself in to the British police.
At least, his lawyers told the British press late Monday that they are negotiating a meeting with Scotland Yard so Assange can answer questions.
His attorney Mark Stephens reportedly said, “We are in the process of making arrangements to meet with the police by consent in order to facilitate the taking of that question and answer that's needed.”
The BBC said Scotland Yard is armed with an apparently valid Swedish arrest warrant and an extradition request. Where it goes from there remains to be seen.
Sweden has previously refused a meeting with Assange outside the country to answer questions related to allegations of rape, sexual assault and unlawful coercion made in the name of two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers in two separate incidents this past summer. No Swedish representative will reportedly be at the Scotland Yard meeting. His lawyers said Assange will fight extradition to Sweden.
Attempting to hold the world hostage, Assange has threatened to have his followers unencrypt and release a stockpile of secret national and commercial information that his lawyers termed a “thermonuclear device” if killed or taken into custody or if WikiLeaks is shut down.
He is supposed to be afraid that if extradited to Sweden, Sweden will turn him over to the United States which would like to charge him with espionage for leaking classified diplomatic cables including a list of foreign infrastructure assets such a pipelines, transoceanic cables and pharmaceutical supplies that are important to the security of America and its allies. The list is a terrorist’s dream.
US Attorney General Eric Holder has intimated that there are other statutes besides the 1917 Espionage Act that Assange could be charged under and Australia is also investigating what it could charge its native son with.
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