Swedish court rejects Julian Assange's appeal to rescind arrest warrant

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- An appellate court in Sweden ruled Thursday to uphold an arrest warrant for Julian Assange in connection with a sexual assault case involving two women.

The Wikileaks founder has claimed he is the victim of a human rights scandal and that the charges were inventions to orchestrate his arrest and extradition to the U.S., where is wanted for questioning about the release of thousands of classified cables in 2010.

In order to avoid arrest, Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has lived under de facto house arrest for more than two years.

"There is no reason to set aside the detention solely because Julian Assange is in an embassy and the detention order cannot be enforced at present for that reason," the appeals court said in a statement Thursday.

"There is a great risk that he will flee and thereby evade legal proceedings if the detention order is set aside. In the view of the court of appeal, these circumstances mean that the reasons for detention still outweigh the intrusion or other detriment entailed by the detention order."