TONY EASTLEY: The High Court in London is expected to decide within days whether or not WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden.
Assange is appealing against a decision that he be sent there to answer questions about allegations that he sexually molested two women last year.
As Assange waits for the High Court decision he might also be pondering the future of his controversial WikiLeaks site, which is effectively closed for new business because a computer mastermind, nicknamed the architect, walked out of the organisation.
Andrew Fowler explains.
ANDREW FOWLER: In the secret world of WikiLeaks there is one secret being held closer than most, the identity of a man known simply as the architect.
Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks associate, knows him well.
What can you tell us about the architect?
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR: Nothing. He wants to remain anonymous so I have nothing to say about him.
ANDREW FOWLER: How can someone remain anonymous in such a transparent area?
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR: If you want to protect the people that want to be only working on the content, not the politics, you should absolutely honour that.
ANDREW FOWLER: How important is the role of the architect?
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR: He's a genius. He's a genius in, you know, writing the stuff that you need to write, encoding the encryptions to make sure that people can leak documents without being tracked.
ANDREW FOWLER: The problem for WikiLeaks is the architect walked out of the operation last year, taking with him the all important submission-system which allows whistleblowers to lodge sensitive information and keep their identities secret.
Since then Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks organisation have been unable to accept electronic online submissions.
When will it be online again?
JULIAN ASSANGE: Sometime. I don't know.
ANDREW FOWLER: When will you be open to take submissions again, electronic submissions?
JULIAN ASSANGE: I'm not sure. So we're...
ANDREW FOWLER: Will it be one month, two months, six months?
JULIAN ASSANGE: I imagine before the end of the year.
ANDREW FOWLER: The Architect walked when Assange's former deputy, Daniel Domscheit-Berg also fled the operation after a falling out with the Australian founder.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg says the WikiLeak's drop box is all the architect's creation.
DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG: Not a single line of code ever was made by Julian. He has no role in creating the submission system and neither have I. And neither did I or he ever have access to that system. And that person who created it decided not to provide such a powerful to WikiLeaks anymore, and he decided to take it away.
ANDREW FOWLER: Daniel Domscheit-Berg has been building a WikiLeaks rival that, despite great fanfare, has so far failed to launch.
He and other former operatives have told ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program of the bad blood that pervaded the WikiLeaks operation and has accused Julian Assange of making serious threats.
DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG: He became very paranoid about the way he was dealing with me, dealing with others as well. He threatened me that he would hunt me down and kill me.
ANDREW FOWLER: In the meantime Julian Assange is under virtual house arrest at the stately home of a supporter in rural Norfolk, north-east of London.
If the High court decides that he has to be extradited to Sweden to face accusations of sexual molestation, his lawyers, including Australian human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson are worried the Swedish authorities will hand him over to the United States.
GEOFFREY ROBERTSON: Under the US Espionage Act there are sections that do carry the death penalty. For that reason I suspect he wouldn't be extradited on those charges, but there are lesser charges that carry up to 10 years imprisonment and that is what he would face, 10 years in a maximum security prison.
TONY EASTLEY: Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson. And you can see the full story tonight on Foreign Correspondent at 8pm on ABC1.
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