UK top court says Assange must be deported, but stays verdict till appeal

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden, but put his deportation on hold to give his lawyers a final chance to reopen the case.

After an 18-month legal battle, the court rejected the argument by lawyers for the 40-year-old Australian founder of the whistle-blowing website, accused of sex attacks by two former volunteers, that the European arrest warrant issued for him was invalid because it was made by prosecutors rather than a judge.

"The request for Assange's extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed," Supreme Court president Lord Nicholas Phillips said as he delivered the ruling to a hushed courtroom.

The seven judges were split five to two but their majority ruling was that the prosecutor was a rightful judicial authority and therefore allowed to issue the warrant.

But, in a new twist, Assange's lawyer Dinah Rose asked the judge for 14 days to consider whether to apply to reopen the case, on the grounds that the judgement referred to material not mentioned during the last court hearing in February.

The judge granted the request - which is highly unusual - saying that if the court does reopen the appeal it will accept further arguments either at a fresh hearing or on paper.