WikiLeaks about to hit the fan

3.46pm: More on the bail conditions.

• Surety of £240,000
• Curfew from 10am-2pm and 10pm-2am
• Assange must report to the police station every day at 6pm

3.36pm: Hang on. Swedish prosecutors plan to launch an appeal against the decision to grant Assange bail. They have two hours to do lodge an appeal. Assange will not be freed until that process is over.

A lawyer for Assange predicted that the he won't be released tonight, according to Mostrous.

3.36pm: Hang on. Swedish prosecutors plan to launch an appeal against the decision to grant Assange bail. They have two hours to do lodge an appeal. Assange will not be freed until that process is over.

Assange's lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson, asked the city of Westminster magistrates court in London for bail on the following conditions: £200,000 in security, surety from two people, a curfew, daily reporting to police and surrender of his passport.

The judge granted the conditions, and gave lawyers representing Sweden two hours to lodge an appeal. Even if an appeal is not lodged, it is likely that Assange will remain in custody tonight anyway.

A full extradition hearing is scheduled for January 11.

"We doubt whether this actual category of rape would be rape under English law," said Robertson, a former appeals judge at the UN special court for Sierra Leone, and whose former clients include author Salman Rushdie.

Appearing for the Swedish authorities, Gemma Lindfield, argued that Assange should not be given bail as the charges were serious and there was a real possibility of Assange taking flight. "This is not a case about WikiLeaks, rather a case about alleged serious offenses against two women," she said. Unlike Robertson, she said the allegations were serious and Assange had only weak ties to Britain and "the means and ability to abscond". .....

The sex offense laws in Sweden are more strict and more nuanced than anywhere in Europe. This has been a recent legislative development in Sweden. A few years ago an international group criticized Sweden for discouraging women to come forward in such cases. Now, the reporting of such charges are much higher in Sweden than any other country. I want Assange to be treated fairly, but no one should blame the two women. They are following a recent trend in their own country.

The rape accusations against Julian Assange may be falling apart as one of his accusers leaves Sweden. Anna Ardin, one of two women behind the rape charges against the WIkiLeaks founder, may no longer be cooperating with prosecutors, the Australian website Crikey reports.

Cuban Five

...

In 1960s and 1970s, there were many acts of terrorism against Cuba by US-based counterrevolutionary exile groups such as Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), Alpha 66, and Omega 7. In a 2001 report by Cuba's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the Cuban government cataloged 3,478 deaths as a result of "terrorism", "aggression", "acts of piracy and other actions".[7] The events cited span the course of four decades and pertain to attacks such as the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 by men trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA-supported Bay of Pigs invasion, and the War Against the Bandits between the government and anti-communist rebels in the Escambray Mountains (see also Operation Mongoose; and United States and state terrorism, Cuba, 1959-present). As a result, the Cuban government had long sought to combat these groups. Their efforts include the use of spies sent to operate in the US.[8] The FBI and other U.S. organizations had been monitoring the activities of Cuban spy suspects for more than 30 years.[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five

I want Assange to be treated fairly, but no one should blame the two women. They are following a recent trend in their own country.

Sweden's decision means that the next legal arguments will be heard at the court of appeal. No time has yet been fixed.

Assange entered Westminster court one at 2.12pm looking paler than at a previous hearing last week, and wearing a dark jacket and open-necked white shirt. With so much press interest, people were given permission to stand; in a break with tradition, journalists were allowed to tweet the proceedings.

Amid chaotic scenes, Robertson, who cut short a holiday in Australia to be in court, had to bang on the door to get in.

Assange entered Westminster court one at 2.12pm looking paler than at a previous hearing last week, and wearing a dark jacket and open-necked white shirt.