Sweden withdraws warrant for WikiLeaks founder
Sweden withdraws warrant for WikiLeaks founder
Published:, 2010 20:26
STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors withdrew an arrest warrant for the founder of WikiLeaks on Saturday, saying less than a day after the document was issued that it was based on an unfounded accusation of rape.
They said that for the moment Julian Assange remains suspected of the lesser crime of molestation in a separate case.
The accusations have been labeled a dirty trick by Julian Assange and his group, who are preparing to release a fresh batch of classified US documents from the Afghan war.
Swedish prosecutors had urged Assange ? a nomadic 39-year-old Australian whose whereabouts were unclear ? to turn himself in to police to face questioning in the case involving suspicions of rape and the other based on an accusation of molestation.
"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape," chief prosecutor Eva Finne said, in announcing the withdrawal of the warrant.
Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, said Assange remains suspected of molestation.
"The prosecutor hasn't made a decision" on that count, Rosander said. "The investigation continues." Assange had dismissed the allegations in a statement on WikiLeaks' Twitter page, saying "the charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing." He was in Sweden last week seeking legal protection for the whistle-blower website, which angered the Obama administration for publishing thousands of leaked documents about US military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.