WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will know next week whether he must go to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault brought by two Swedish women he met in Stockholm in the summer of 2010.
Britain's Supreme Court, which heard Mr. Assange's appeal against a High Court ruling that he can be extradited, will deliver its verdict on May 30.
It will be a short judgment setting out a summary of the points raised by Mr. Assange, and a brief explanation of the judges' rationale, the court said on Wednesday.
“The handing-down of the judgment will take around ten minutes. The President of the Supreme Court will give a summary of the point of law raised by the appeal, the Court's decision, and a brief explanation of the rationale for that decision,” a notice on its website said.
In a sign of the interest the case has aroused, the judgement will be delivered in the largest courtroom.
“Even with these arrangements in place, we do expect that demand for seats is likely to exceed the number of spaces we can safely make available to the public,” it said.
The case has dominated international headlines for two years with Mr. Assange claiming that the allegations against him are politically motivated. He fears that, if he is extradited, Swedish authorities might hand him over to the United States, which has threatened to prosecute him for leaking classified and confidential documents.
The appeal was heard by a seven-member bench at a special two-day session in February after the Court agreed that the case raised an issue of “great public importance.”
Mr. Assange's lawyers argued that the Swedish warrant seeking his extradition was not issued by a proper judicial authority and was , therefore, not legally valid. If the verdict goes against him, he can still appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Mr. Assange, who was arrested in December 2010, is on bail under conditions that have been likened to house arrest.
