Julian Assange has lost his fight to end his five-year embassy standoff with police, after a court ruled for a second time the warrant for his arrest should stand.
The Wikileaks founder lost his second bid in as many weeks to quash the warrant for skipping bail on Tuesday, with the judge saying he should “have the courage” to surrender himself to police.
Had he won, Assange could have walked free from London’s Ecuadorian embassy, where he has been hiding since June 2012, without being arrested.
Assange’s lawyers argued it was not in British interests to pursue Assange for the bail charge when Swedish prosecutors had dropped their investigation into sexual offences the bail related to.
Assange hid in the embassy in June 2012, saying extradition to Sweden could mean he was taken to America to face prosecution over Wikileaks’ leaking of diplomatic cables and war logs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
But on Tuesday, Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruled the arrest warrant should stand, dismissing all five points Assange’s lawyers raised and finding it is in the public interest to pursue him for failing to surrender.
Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said she did not believe his fears of extradition to the US were “reasonable”.
She also said the UN working group that said he was being arbitrarily detained had based their opinion on “some misunderstandings” about the case.
She said: “I find arrest is a proportionate response even though Mr Assange has restricted his own freedom for a number of years.
“Defendants on bail up and down the country, and requested persons facing extradition, come to court to face the consequences of their own choices.
“He should have the courage to do the same. It is certainly not against the public interest to proceed.”
Assange tweeted “not looking good” as he followed proceedings on Twitter.
Last Tuesday, the chief magistrate ruled the warrant should stand, saying legal precedents “underline the importance of a defendant attending court when bail to do so”.
She added it was “not uncommon” for people to be pursued for bail offences after the proceedings the bail related to were discontinued.
Assange’s time in the embassy has been marked by regular appearances at the balcony to address crowds of supporters, who have gathered at various stages of his legal battle.
For three years, the Metropolitan Police maintained a permanent guard outside the embassy in case he left, but stopped this in 2015, citing the cost.
In 2016, a UN panel called on Swedish and British authorities to end Assange’s “deprivation of liberty”.
The Foreign Office condemned this, saying it “completely rejects any claim that Julian Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention”.
It added Assange was “in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy”.
Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny withdraw the extradition request in May last year because Assange’s refusal to come to Sweden meant “all possibilities to advance the investigation have now been exhausted”.
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