Quito, September 13 (RHC)-- A Swedish appeals court announced Monday that famed whistleblower and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can expect a ruling Friday on whether the warrant for his arrest will be withdrawn. 

Holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for over four years, Assange is wanted for questioning in a Swedish rape investigation.  He has never been charged, and the statute of limitations on several potential offenses expired last year. 

Assange has denied all accusations of sexual assault and rape, claiming they are fabricated as part of a smear campaign to facilitate his extradition to the United States, where a criminal investigaiton is open, to face trial for WikiLeaks whistleblowing. 
 
Ecuador has welcomed Sweden to question Assange in the Embassy in London as a work-around to the whistleblower’s fear of leaving the premises in the face of expected political persecution for leaking classified cables. 

The United Nations has dubbed Assange’s situation a case of arbitrary detention and his case has gained international attention. 

Assange came into the public eye in 2010 when WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables, leaking classified information that exposed the full extent of U.S. military abuses committed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.