This is either evidence of degeneracy in-depth or a set up by someone or someones who didn't like the idea of this fellow leaking tens of thousands of classified documents about the Afghan War.
Reuters:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose whistle-blowing website caused uproar last month with a leak of secret U.S. military files on Afghanistan, has been charged in Sweden with rape and molestation, the National Prosecutor's Office said on Saturday. Assange was quoted by a Swedish daily as denying the allegations.
Assange, an Australian, 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 ties with the Nordic country, where WikiLeaks has said it keeps some 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, without giving details.
Assange, whose whereabouts is unclear, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter via email he had not been contacted by police.
"Why these accusations are popping up right now is an interesting question. I have not been contacted by police. These allegations are false," he said.
Yes, Julian. I'm sure she looked 17, or 16, or whatever the legal age of consent might be in Sweden. And as we all know, when a women is screaming "No" she really means "Yes," right?
I don't think we can dismiss the possibility of a set up, but how would you convince the police to play along? Or getting a couple of women to lie for you and have them keep quiet about it is not an easy task, especially when you consider they would have to appear in court and carry the conspiracy for a considerable length of time.
I do not believe the US government would be behind any shenanigans, but I wouldn't put it past some rogue elements to take it upon themselves to punish the leaker. We don't know enough to even guess yet, so perhaps we should just contemplate the fate of someone who proved himself a publicity whore and may have gotten burned for it.
Update: The New York Times reports that the rape charge and warrant have been withdrawn:
The prosecutor's office provided few details about the case against Mr. Assange, who denied the allegations. Nor did it say why it backtracked so quickly. Two Swedish newspapers said the allegations were made by two women who worked with WikiLeaks in
Sweden, and the prosecutors told The Associated Press they were still looking into an accusation of molestation.
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