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Sunday 22 August 2010

Not just for the Ambush Predator, this one.

JuliaM has a growing stack of examples of men who are spuriously accused of rape but this one is particularly interesting.
Julian Assange, the founder of the Wikileaks website, was at the centre of an extraordinary "dirty tricks" row today after the Swedish government issued and then withdrew an arrest warrant against him for rape.
In a bizarre chain of events, prosecutors initially confirmed he was wanted for questioning about two accusations of rape and molestation following reports in Expressen, a tabloid newspaper. It was understood to have related to complaints brought by two women in Sweden, where the Australian-born internet activist has been staying for the last week.
But just hours, later, they announced that the warrant had been withdrawn, saying that the rape suspicion was unfounded.
In a bizarre chain of events, prosecutors initially confirmed he was wanted for questioning about two accusations of rape and molestation following reports in Expressen, a tabloid newspaper. It was understood to have related to complaints brought by two women in Sweden, where the Australian-born internet activist has been staying for the last week.
But just hours, later, they announced that the warrant had been withdrawn, saying that the rape suspicion was unfounded.
...
As soon as he heard of the rape allegations, he issued a statement of denial. "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.
Then, shortly after friends said he was preparing to attend a police station of his own accord, there was a further statement from the prosecutor's office saying that the matter had been dropped.
I suppose it could potentially happen to anyone but it's a hell of a coincidence that it happens to someone who runs an internet whistle blowing service and who I'm sure a number of people wish would either shut up or go away, or better yet both. Possibly there was something in it because a less serious and non-arrestable molestation charge is apparently still live but it all sounds a bit odd, especially since it's unclear there was actually a real complaint.
Making false accusations of rape or molestation is a criminal offence punishable by jail in Sweden. Some sources in the Swedish media claimed that the two women did not actually report the case to the police, but that the prosecutor had taken it up anyway.
It bears watching to see if anything else comes out, but one thing should please JuliaM at least. One country is at least prepared to jail people who make false accusations of one of the most vile crimes that exists.

5 comments:

Paul said...

I thought that it might well be a smear which could then be retracted leaving a "no smoke without fire" air lingering in its wake.

Nah, you're not paranoid.

Angry Exile said...

Yeah, got a whiff of the same thing. As pointed out elsewhere this kind of thing will never really go away, especially in the internet age. Bloody convenient if you want to blacken someone's name and don't have many scruples.

Bill Sticker said...

Yup, the 'rape' charge sounded suspicious from the get go. The timing was just too obvious. Sounds like Assange has a good libel case against the tabloid that printed the smear.

So the Swedes jail people for false rape allegations? What fun.

JuliaM said...

It does. It pleases me greatly. :)

Trooper Thompson said...

Check out this little piece of poisoned penmanship:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/7959227/Julian-Assanges-arrest-warrant-a-diversion-from-the-truth.html

It seems to imply that Assange himself, or his supporters, are behind the rape allegation.

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