LONDON (AFP) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in a British court on Monday to fight his extradition to Sweden, with leaked details shedding new light on the rape and molestation accusations he faces.
The two-day hearing at a high security London court will examine a Swedish arrest warrant for the 39-year-old Australian, who won worldwide notoriety for his website's release of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables.
Celebrity backers including socialite Jemima Khan also lead rallies in London on Monday for Assange, who insisted that sex assault claims made against the former computer hacker by two Swedish women are politically motivated.
The judge is expected to defer his decision in the case at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south London. If the ruling goes against Assange he will be able to appeal the decision all the way to England's supreme court.
His lawyers argue that if Assange is extradited to Sweden, he runs the risk of extradition or even illegal rendition to the United States where they say he could face the death penalty.
Assange was released on bail a week after his arrest on Dec. 7 and has since been staying at a friend's country mansion, under strict conditions including that he obey a curfew, wear an electronic ankle tag and report to police daily.
After releasing hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan last year, WikiLeaks has in recent months been slowly publishing more than 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables.
Assange now faces a widening criminal probe in the United States and has made powerful enemies in Washington.
