Sweden Clears WikiLeaks Founder of Rape
Swedish authorities have decided to withdraw the arrest warrant issued for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks:
Authorities in Sweden on Saturday withdrew a rape charge filed a day earlier against Julian Assange, the Australian-born founder of WikiLeaks, and canceled a warrant for his arrest.
The move comes just ahead of the expected release of thousands more secret U.S. military documents by the online whistleblower group, causing its supporters to speculate that the charges of rape and molestation filed Friday were part of a smear campaign aimed at discrediting Assange and interfering with the release.
A statement from Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne on the Swedish Prosecution Authority website said Finne "has come to the desicion that Julian Assange is not suspected of rape" and the arrest warrant against him has been withdrawn. Authorities did not give details of the allegations and the statement said no further details would be provided Saturday.
However, the Associated Press later quoted a spokeswoman for the authority as saying the molestation charge is still under investigation.
Assange denied the charges, first reported in the Swedish daily Expressen (link in Swedish), saying, in a series of Twitter posts: "The charges are without basis, and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing.
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