Jemima Khan, the English socialite and daughter of LADY ANNABEL and JAMES GOLDSMITH, offered to put up the money for JULIAN ASSANGE's bail release, after the 'Wikileaks' founder was arrested in London today (6th December 2010) reports the UK's Daily Mail. 44-year-old Khan was joined by other four other wealthy donors, including film director Ken Loach and the writer JOHN PILGER, who had together raised one-hundred and eighty thousand pound in sureties.
However, despite the raising of funds, Assange was refused bail and will appear in court following his arrest over alleged sexual offences in Sweden. The 39-year-old founder of the whistleblowing website 'Wikileaks', which recently leaked thousands of confidential military documents, told a Westminster Magistrates Court that he refused to be voluntarily extradited to face the charges. Assange will now face a lengthy battle to avoid extradition, but his lawyer MARK STEPHENS said the arrest will not stop WikiLeaks from publishing more US secret documents.
Assange's quest for political transparency is becoming more difficult - today, Visa suspended all payments to WikiLeaks and the company had its PayPal and Swiss bank accounts frozen last week. KEN LOACH, who offered twenty-thousand pound towards Assange's release said, "I think the work he has done has been a public service".