Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden, UK court rules (VIDEO)

A British court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face charges of sex crimes, dismissing claims such a move would breach his human rights.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange, 39, about allegations made by two WikiLeaks volunteers during his time in Sweden last August.

One alleges Assange sexually molested her by ignoring her request for him to use a condom during sex. The second woman has said Assange had sex with her while she was asleep and that he was not wearing a condom.

Prosecutors say the second allegation falls into the least severe of three categories of rape in Sweden, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.

Assange, an Australian computer expert, denies the accusations. His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling, signaling their intent to take their fight to Britain’s highest courts, and even to the European Court of Human Rights, according to the New York Times.

Assange arrived at the Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in southeast London dressed in the blue suit he has worn to previous hearings, and sat impassively as the decision was read. The court continued his bail subject to conditions.

During three days of legal argument earlier this month, lawyers for Assange argued he would not get a fair trial in Sweden, and his legal team fears extradition to the U.S. and imprisonment at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, and even the death penalty, after his website released a quarter of a million confidential U.S. diplomatic cables.

The release of the cables, detailing government secrets about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and American diplomatic communications worldwide, angered and embarrassed the United States and other governments. The United States Justice Department has reportedly subpoenaed his Twitter account as part of an investigation that could lead to espionage charges.

Assange's lawyers also claim that Swedish prosecutors had mishandled the sexual misconduct case against Assange.

And they accuse Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of creating a "toxic atmosphere" in Sweden and damaging his chances of a fair trial by portraying him as "public enemy number one."

However, Judge Howard Riddle dismissed the arguments and ordered Assange be extradited.

WikiLeaks supporters have mobbed courthouses over the course of six hearings, chanting, “We love you, Julian,” according to the New York Times.

Assange has compared himself to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a recorded speech played this month at a rally in Melbourne, Australia, his adopted hometown, he compared the struggles of WikiLeaks to those of African-Americans fighting for equal rights in the 1950s, of protesters who sought an end to the Vietnam War in the ‘60s and of the feminist and environmental movements, according to the Times. “For the internet generation,” he said, “this is our challenge, and this is our time.”

He is also working on an autobiography, which he has said will be worth about $1.5 million in publishing deals. In December, he told a British newspaper the money would be used to fund his legal defense.

"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he reportedly said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds [$307,408] for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

Earlier this month, a former colleague of Assange released a book charging that the WikiLeaks founder went from being "imaginative, energetic [and] brilliant" to a "paranoid, power-hungry, megalomaniac."

"Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website," written by WikiLeaks defector Daniel Domscheit-Berg, prompted headlines such as:

"WikiLeaks boss Assange 'fathered children' across the globe"

"Assange abused my cat: WikiLeaks insider"

"Assange portrayed as 'emperor' in insider book"

— Freya Petersen