Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's attempt to squash the warrant for his arrest was rejected by a Swedish appellate court Thursday, The Associated Press reported.

The decision means Assange will likely continue to be confined to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where the 43-year-old has been living since 2012 when the South American nation granted him asylum.

The Sweden appeals court confirmed a ruling by a lower court and said there was no reason to lift the arrest warrant merely because it cannot be enforced at the moment.

Swedish police want to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct and rape involving two women he met during a 2010 visit. The Australian citizen has long denied those allegations but declared his willingness to testify "were it not for a threat that he would be extradited to the (United States) for political crimes," according to The Guardian. Neither the U.S. nor the Swedish government have been willing to give any such guarantees.

Britain's Foreign Office, meanwhile, "said last month it would 'actively welcome' a request by the prosecutor to question Assange inside the embassy and would 'do absolutely everything to facilitate' such a move," according to The Guardian. The Swedish court criticized "prosecutors' failure to examine alternative avenues of investigation."

"One way (to do that) would be to interrogate him in London," Niclas Wågnert, the appeal court judge in the case, said.

In Wågnert's view, Assange's stay at the Embassy did not amount to incarceration, according to the Local, a Swedish news site. Assange is allowed to "leave the embassy if he wants," the court noted, though it acknowledged that such a move would lead to his arrest and extradition.

Assange's lawyers had further wanted prosecutors to hand over hundreds of his accusers' text messages they believed showed there is no basis for his arrest, the AP noted. The court rejected the request.

"We are of course disappointed that they upheld the custody decision," Assange's lawyer, Per Samuelson, told the Local. "I have spoken to Julian, and he is confident that in the long run we will prevail because Swedish, international and European law is on our side."

Assange plans to appeal to the Swedish supreme court, Samuelson added.

Related