Julian Assange: Rape Allegations Part Of 'Smear Campaign'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has slammed Swedish authorities who issued a now-revoked warrant for his arrest Friday on charges of rape and molestation.

In a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera from an undisclosed location in Sweden on Sunday, Assange, who is an Australian national, said authorities had reached "the height of irresponsibility" and believes he was the target of a smear campaign.

"We were warned on the 11th [of August] by Australian intelligence that we should expect this sort of thing. We were warned about dirty tricks and specifically that they would be of a type like this. It is clearly a smear campaign ... the [rape] accusation was withdrawn six hours later. The only question is who was involved."

Though Assange initially faced rape and molestation allegations from two women, local prosecutors withdrew the rape charge Saturday, saying new information had come to light. Though Assange insisted all the allegations against him are untrue, the molestation claim remains under investigation. It has not been confirmed whether or not the two women, ages 20 and 30, were Swedes. If convicted, he could face up to a year behind bars.

Assange's case has also sparked the ire of the Organization for Safe Legal Proceedings, which claimed Swedish prosecutors didn't follow local objectivity laws. As founder Johann Binninge told CNN:

"When accusations come in, prosecutors don't even check facts before they take coercive measures, and this is contrary to Swedish laws. In this case, the prosecutor only listened to one individual's story but didn't bother checking the other side of the story before accusing Mr. Assange of a very serious crime. This is why we have reported her."

Swedish prosecutors have defended their actions, saying one reason for Assange's hastily-arranged arrest warrant was concern that the WikiLeaks founder was preparing to leave the country.

Comments

[BigJohn67]

01:13 PM on 08/24/2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/24/assange-wikileaks-swedish-prosecutors-charges

[Paulo1]

11:08 AM on 08/24/2010

The Pentagon should be sweating bullets right now.

If Assange thinks he is being smeared, whether it is true or not is irrelevant, he will seek to hit back. And does anyone really think that all he has is the data from one lone guy? Assange and WikiLeaks have proven that they can have access to any governments dirty secrets if they want them. Now we may very well see what happens when a ham handed smear campaign starts Assange thinking about how to fight back.

I imagine we may see some very damaging disclosures from the Pentagon in the next week or two as they try to release information to preempt Assange doing so.

[greyhound2]

11:06 AM on 08/24/2010

A fast and easy way to smear someone is to hit them with a "he said/she said" charge. Once charged, the burden of proof is on the accuser. But even when the allegations are found to be without metit, the damage is done and the accuser walks away with no penalty. Fast and easy for those wanting to inflict damage.

[Caru]

08:07 AM on 08/24/2010

Duh.

[Liah Norman]

08:05 AM on 08/24/2010

Umm..I highly doubt that this is some kind of CIA smear on Assange as this would only benefit Wikileaks because it would play into the idea that the government and CIA are the bad guys and Wikileaks/Assange; the good guys. It may also be used to smear ideas that Assange is some kind of Government agent or pawn to help us build more trust. The timing of the release of the afghan documents and collateral murder video is beneficial to the US as the withdrawal from Afghanistan nears, it helps to build support for that move. Its very confusing and I feel that due to the media's extensive coverage it is likely he doing government favors. I really don't know, there is also the possibility that he is guilty too.

[24b4Jeff]

07:41 AM on 08/24/2010

This brought to us by the people who declared that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, who tell us that Iran is building nuclear weapons, that the Turks and Venezuelans are our enemies, and that most of the oil has been recovered from the Gulf.

[Budokan]

07:31 AM on 08/24/2010

Ya think?

[rgilley]

06:18 AM on 08/24/2010

Anyone smell the stinch of the CIA here?

[poobah]

11:47 AM on 08/24/2010

JFK was going to disband the CIA. What do you think?

[gmb007]

04:57 AM on 08/24/2010

Come on, Huff!! Put this at the top of the FRONT PAGE where it belongs!

Don't leave the public thinking Assange still has rape charges hanging over him! They need to KNOW he's is/will be totally cleared!! This is important stuff!

Thank you.

[rgilley]

06:19 AM on 08/24/2010

Agreed!!! Huffpost put the story where it was when he was charged!!

[Paulo1]

11:11 AM on 08/24/2010

Agreed.

Journalistic ethics is in play here. If you smear a man on the front page you exonerate him on the front page.

[SylviaWrath]

01:39 AM on 08/24/2010

If this is a smear campaign, it has to be one of the most pathetic on record. Not only did the vast majority of the public not buy the initial charge, but by having it fall apart in less than 6 hours, it has probably provided Assange a bit of a shield against anything similar. If this is the best our CIA can do, G help us if we really need protecting.

[gmb007]

04:50 AM on 08/24/2010

Exactly. This miserable, contemptible farce may greatly play in his favor. :) Lord knows Assange needs all the defense and protection he can get.

I would trust Julian Assange with the keys to my house before I would the CIA.

[rgilley]

06:20 AM on 08/24/2010

So would 99% of Americans!

[WTFbush]

12:48 AM on 08/24/2010

I find the fact that he was warned on the 11th by Australian intelligence to fascinating.

Can you imagine if Bush/Cheney/Rove were in power? Oh wait they were!

This guy is it in real, real deep.

[lizr]

04:21 AM on 08/24/2010

thank God Aussie intelligence seems in this case to be on the side of the Truth coming out! and on the side of its citizens.

[WTFbush]

04:13 PM on 08/24/2010

I hope that is the case. I guess that the Bush WH has made me too cynical over the years.

Let the truth be told!

[DemocraticVoter]

12:17 AM on 08/24/2010

So you don't want your decision to push this to a back page to be discussed -- interesting.

[DemocraticVoter]

12:05 AM on 08/24/2010

Notice that HuffPost does not even have this on the front page.

[murmur55]

11:49 PM on 08/23/2010

I've been raped BECAUSE I was a whistleblower. Let's leave our whistleblowers alone so that they can do their work...

[lizr]

11:53 PM on 08/23/2010

I hope you write a book about it and NAME NAMES.

and the best of luck to you, my greatest sympathy.

[murmur55]

12:19 AM on 08/24/2010

thank you...you can find some details on my twitter feed @murmur55/favorites...demand better

[bmike]

11:42 PM on 08/23/2010

They are now looking for a bigger lie since that one didn't work.If they had run this story on Fox news alone it would have worked.It don't have to be true over there just fair and balanced.

[rgilley]

06:22 AM on 08/24/2010

I agree Fox would have played this up to the max ! Im surprized they didn't get involved.
That's who Assange ought to be exposing Fox "news".