At New York Times (via Astute Bloggers and Memeorandum):
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden has issued rape and molestation charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose whistle-blowing website last month published secret U.S. military files on Afghanistan.There's a statement at the WikiLeaks blog. The Expressen article is here. And the conspiracy theories are already percolating: "Did US Government Fabricate Charges Against Julian Assange? WikiLeaks founder ‘Wanted In Sweden For Rape’ (UPDATE 9)."
Assange, whose whereabouts were unclear, told WikiLeaks' Twitter page the charges were "without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."
Assange was in Sweden last week to discuss his work and defend his intent to publish further documents on the war in Afghanistan.
He has close contacts in the Nordic country, which has some of the world's strictest laws on the protection of sources and where WikiLeaks also keeps many of its servers.
"We can confirm that he's wanted. He was charged last night -- the allegation is suspected rape," said Karin Rosander, Director of Communications at the National Prosecutor's Office.
"One is rape and one is molestation," she said. She did not elaborate.
WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter that it had not been contacted by police.
"We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks'. Now we have the first one," WikiLeaks, whose page has more than 100,000 followers, tweeted. It also provided a link to the right-leaning tabloid Expressen, which first published the allegations.
WikiLeaks was not available when contacted by Reuters and Stockholm police declined to comment.
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UPDATE: "Sweden withdraws arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder" (via Memeorandum). Sure. And of course this is just the beginning. Assange has some enemies out there (and he's still charged on lesser counts). The dude should watch his back.
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