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LONDON: Lawyers for Julian Assange were asking a British court on Friday to drop a UK arrest warrant for the WikiLeaks founder, a move that would free him to leave the Ecuadorean embassy after more than five years.
Assange’s attorney says the warrant serves no purpose because he is no longer wanted for questioning in Sweden over alleged sex offenses.
Swedish prosecutors dropped the case last year, saying there was no prospect of bringing Assange to Sweden in the foreseeable future.
But Assange still faces arrest if he leaves the embassy of Ecuador in London, where he has been holed up since 2012. He is wanted for jumping bail and taking refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Lawyer Mark Summers told Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the arrest warrant had “lost its purpose and its function.”
The hearing is scheduled to last one day and judge Emma Arbuthnot is expected to give her ruling on Friday.
If she rules in Assange’s favor he will be free to leave the embassy without being arrested by British police. Ecuador this month said it had granted the Australian-born hacker citizenship.
But Assange suspects there is a secret US indictment against him for WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked classified American documents and that the US authorities will seek his extradition.