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August 23, 2010

Sweden Drops Rape Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder
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The founder of the whistle-blowing website Wiki Leaks has said
accusations that he raped and molested two women are part of a dirty
tricks campaign to discredit the website. On Friday, Swedish authorities
issued an arrest warrant for Julian Assange on rape and molestation
charges. Then on Saturday the charges were dropped, but authorities say
they are still investigating the molestation claim. Assange spoke with
Al Jazeera over the weekend.

Julian Assange: "Any such claims are completely untrue, and they should
be aware that there are very significant forces that try to give rise to
the various claims about this organization."

Wiki Leaks volunteer Kristinn Hrafnsson said the group had been warned
about being the target of dirty tricks.

Kristinn Hrafnsson: "Well, this can only be a speculative thing. I mean,
we have been warned, ever since the leaking of the Afghan war diary,
that there would be an attempt by Pentagon to discredit Wiki Leaks and
its founder in some manner. Even a slander campaign was mentioned. So it
is tempting to see the events in Stockholm in light of those warnings."



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