Arrest order for Wikileaks' Assange

Swedish prosecutor seeks arrest of whistleblower website founder on allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

18 Nov 2010

A Swedish prosecutor has requested the arrest of Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, to face charges of rape and sexual molestation.

The request for the arrest of Assange, 39, comes nearly a month after he released classified military documents about the war in Iraq detailing torture, civilian deaths blamed on US and Iraqi forces.

"I request the District Court of Stockholm to detain Mr Assange in his absence, suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion," Marianne Ny, the Swedish director of prosecutions, said in a statement in English.

"The reason for my request is that we need to interrogate him. So far, we have not been able to meet with him to accomplish the interrogations."

The Stockholm court was set to hold a hearing on whether to order Assange's detention, which according to Swedish media would allow authorities to issue an international warrant for his arrest.

A warrant was first issued for Assange's arrest on August 20 by another prosecutor, but was later withdrawn.

Ny reopened the rape investigation against Assange on September 1, but did not request his detention and allowed him to leave Sweden.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2010/11/20101118102042316141.html.