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Summary
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been granted bail by a judge in London. Assange appeared in court Tuesday to fight his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault and to seek bail. Assange, who has been in a British jail for the past week, had offered to wear a locator bracelet if he was released. Judge Howard Riddle granted bail to Assange until his next hearing, scheduled for Jan. 11. The 39-year-old Australian handed himself in to British police last week after Sweden issued a European arrest warrant. Assange was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers during a stay in Sweden. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusations.Assange, who denies the allegations, was remanded in custody at an initial British court hearing last week. Assange and his lawyers have voiced fears that US prosecutors may be preparing to indict him for espionage after the WikiLeaks website published details of some of a trove of 250,000 secret U.S. documents it has obtained.
