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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to Be Questioned in Molestation Claim

1 year ago
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Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
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It was just five weeks ago when Julian Assange, the pale and white-haired antiwar hacker now enmeshed in a potential scandal, became a celebrity in the West, standing lean and tall at the white-hot center of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, which had just released 77,000 secret Afghan battlefield reports placing U.S. military operations in a harsh light.
When the Pentagon requested removal of the classified documents from his site, Assange refused. Predictably, in our age of instant fame, a cult grew around Assange, an Australian who at 39 wears the aura of man of mystery, moving under the radar from one country to another, carrying only a backpack stuffed with his desktop computer. For weeks he was a most sought-after guest on cable and broadcast news shows and held forth at a dozen news conferences in London.
On Wednesday, perhaps trying to shift the focus from a rape and molestation accusation, Assange released a three-page classified CIA paper he had been threatening to disclose for days. But this time the release of secret material seemed to bring forth only a shrug. The document dealt with the question of U.S. homegrown terrorism exported abroad and was said to be a product of a brainstorming session among CIA officials and analysts, not a policy-making document. "This is not a blockbuster," a CIA official told MSNBC.
Along with his celebrity and cult following, Assange has attracted notoriety: in the past week, one woman accused him of rape and another accused him of molestation. Both women also said they had had consensual sex with him. The rape charge was dropped, apparently for lack of evidence, a day after a warrant was issued last Friday. But on Wednesday, Assange received bad news:

A Stockholm prosecutor, Eva Finne, said Assange will be questioned in the molestation case. ("We are sitting and waiting for the police to call," Assange's lawyer, Leif Silbersky, said. "I hope it happens tomorrow so he can leave Sweden.")
The case set off a debate over Swedish disclosure and privacy laws. A group that works on behalf of individuals' rights said the official who issued the rape warrant against Assange -- and released his name and information to the media -- had not followed Swedish objectivity laws. Ironically, Wikileaks also often releases official documents without authorization or regard to privacy.
Johann Binninge, founder of the Organisation for Safe Legal Proceedings, told CNN that the official "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."
Once the official learned that a news organization knew the details of the case, the official confirmed the case involved Assange. After the news broke on Saturday, the official came under fire, and the case was transferred to Finne, a senior prosecutor who made the decision to revoke the rape warrant.
"I don't know what's behind this," Assange said about the sex charges. "But we have been warned that the Pentagon, for example, is thinking of deploying dirty tricks to ruin us. And I have also been warned about sex traps." Speaking to the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet, Assange said he had consensual sex with his two female accusers, but he denied any improper sexual behavior.
Prosecutor Finne said she found no evidence that the sex charges were instigated by outsiders like U.S. agencies. The attorney for the alleged victims said that rumors that the CIA was involved in the sex-crimes accusations were "complete nonsense."
And a close friend of Assange in Sweden told The New York Times he was "absolutely sure" that the women were acting out of "ill feelings" that surfaced when the women found out Assange had relationships with both of them. "This wasn't anything to do with the Pentagon."
With themes of sexual abuse that seem to spring from Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" blockbusters, the case against Assange is sketchy and riddled with gaps and questions. Little is known about the two women accusers. One of them was described in a Swedish website as a leftist activist in her early-to-mid-30s who is associated with the Swedish Christian Social Democrats' Brotherhood Movement. Assange appeared at the Brotherhood Movement's workshop last Saturday, said the website Newzglobe.com. According to the website and posts on Twitter and her own blog, the woman, identified as Anna Ardin, arranged for Assange's appearance before the Brotherhood Movement, found him places to stay and helped fill his social calendar during the visit.
The second woman, identified as "Ms W," was believed to be an artist in her mid-20s. She reportedly met Assange at a seminar in Stockholm this month and originally alleged the rape. According to The Guardian: On Friday last week, the women together went to the police in Stockholm and said they had been sexually assaulted by Assange. Both women said they had consensual sex with Assange, but each reported separate non-consensual incidents in which Assange had sex with them without using a condom. Both said the incidents were recent -- one on Aug. 14, the other on Aug. 17.
Anna Ardin, told Aftonbladet that the complaints were "not orchestrated by the Pentagon" but prompted by a man with a "problem taking no for an answer."
Filed Under: Woman Up, WikiLeaks
Tagged: Afghan war secrets, Aftonbladet, Anna Ardin, CIA, Eva Finne, Julian Assange, Leif Silbersky, Ms W, sex crimes, Stieg Larsson, Sweden privacy laws, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, WikiLeaks
More articles from Luisita Lopez Torregrosa »

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3 Comments

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Kathy

I love how the headlines accuse & convict this guy of these crimes, but when you read the stories it actually seems like an attempt to destroy the guys character & reputation, because he's pissed off the government with his Wikileaks. The two accusers admit consensual sex, but still were molested & raped?? It doesn't add up.

August 26 2010 at 8:31 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Kathy's comment
ohlukkyman

What article did you read, Kathy? The headline just says he's wanted for questioning. It doesn't even say hell be questioned about accusation made of him, just that authorities wish to question him. At least twice the story cites sources who say it's NOT a CIA plot. Yet you think the headline has convicted this "great" man. We don't know the facts but the story implies that the women did have consensual sexual relations w/ Assange but on the condition that he wear a condom. So, what would YOU call it they agreed to have "safe" sex and then he, unilaterally, changed that critical provision? Who knows what Swedish law has to say about such a situation, too? Maybe it's not rape. But if there is legitimate suspicion that the encounters went as I describe, then he SHOULD be questioned. It sounds like he's willing to be questioned, too. And he is a very well-known person so this is newsworthy. Because this "great man" has powerful or evil enemies doesn't mean that he should get a free pass. I suppose it's a disgrace. too, that the great Roman Polanski had to answer for drugging and raping that 13 year old girl, too. Another CIA job?

August 27 2010 at 3:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GORGEOUS

yes it IS possible to rape someone even though those involved had consentual sex. the problem was about the guy not taking NO for an answer when he was told to STOP because he didn't/wouldn't wear a condom.

September 04 2010 at 12:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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