Earlier today Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was granted the right to appeal against his extradition to Sweden. It’s been a little over a year since Assange was detained in London and awaited extradition to Sweden in order to face two charges of sexual assault. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has said that it “has granted permission to appeal” due to the great public importance of the issue, which is whether a prosecutor is a judicial authority.” The hearing is scheduled for February 1, 2012.

The issue is of some importance to followers of this long news saga, some of whom shared their reactions on Twitter. Due to Assange’s polarizing stature, the tones unsurprisingly ranged from welcoming to weary:

@x7o
x7oCongratulations to Julian Assange. The appeal will be heard. 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Assange has managed to stay involved in the activities of Wikileaks, most recently appearing at a conference earlier this month in London to speak about government surveillance. Given that it’s taken over a year of judicial foot-dragging to even get to this point, hopefully the brevity of the hearing – two days – will hasten the process of whether Assange ends up getting extradited to Sweden. Have any of you been following this case (I know, it’s kind of easy to forget about given how long it’s stretched on)? What do you think about Assange being granted a hearing next year? Agree or disagree? Comment with your opinion below.