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Julian Assange Faces Rape Investigation In Sweden — Updated

mpawlo was one of many readers who have sent news that a warrant has been issued in Stockholm, Sweden for WikiLeaks founder and spokesman Julian Assange. The investigation apparently involves "one report of rape and one report of harassment." The story was broken by Swedish tabloid Expressen (original in Swedish), and later picked up by more reputable sources like CNN and the BBC, who say the warrant has been confirmed by Swedish authorities. The WikiLeaks Twitter feed has commented three times about the charges so far, first saying they were warned of 'dirty tricks,' then that they hadn't been contacted by Swedish police, and then a statement from Assange saying the charges are without basis.
Update: 08/21 15:58 GMT by S : Multiple sources are now reporting that the warrant for Assange's arrest has been withdrawn. Aftonbladet has coverage in Swedish. Chief prosecutor Eva Finne said, "I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape."

23 of 1,017 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This just in by Shihar · · Score: 5, Funny

    In defense of the US government plant who is making the charges, he does look kind of like a rapist.

  2. Re:Hmph by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I didn't think Reiser had any enemies with a motive for framing him, though?

    You obviously never read LKML!

  3. Re:In some ways the damage is done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    In some ways it doesn't matter if he's never convicted of these charges. Mouthpieces like recovering drug addict and confessed fraud Rush Limbaugh will be able to call him a "rapist and molester" and convince many that any information from Wikileaks is a lie.

    Fixed that for you.

  4. In with by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 1, Funny

    What can you expect? Can you really trust a guy with "Ass" in his last name?

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  5. Re:Rape? In Sweden? by JamesP · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, I imagine how "hey girl, wanna see my leaked documents" is a great pickup line

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    how long until /. fixes commenting on Chrome?
  6. Re:This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You're right, they wouldn't leave it to chance: If they found him, they'd likely just plant a gun on him (if he isn't carrying one) and claim they had to shoot him because he was resisting arrest for rape.

    Or to put it another way: If they put the same effort into doing something about Osama bin Laden as they're putting into doing something about Julian Assange, I suspect bin Laden would be either in Gitmo or 6 feet under by now.

    I was unaware that the US military was all over Sweden blowing up the Assange network. Must be looking at the wrong webnews.

  7. Not Fair! by DesScorp · · Score: 4, Funny

    Any enemy of the US is our friend.

    It's not fair that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gets to post here when he keeps Iran's Internet connections locked down.

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    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
  8. Re:This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It is not about Julien Assange, it is a larger context. It a way to bug Julien Assange who is a Thule Teutonic Knight (=protestant!). The US tried the same with the Roman priests (catholic!) and orthodox Christians. It is a way to bully Assange and get information about him. Why did the Thule Knights try to ensure that Sweden stayed neutral in the Iraq war? For the same reasons why they released the US files. Wikileaks threaten their opponents to relase all the information about what was really going on, why the satanic elites in the U.S. wanted their "new Babylon" in Iraq to sacrifice and worship their gods. And what is really going on there...

  9. Re:This just in by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny

    What? Next you'll be arguing that it's possible that Roman Polanski is both a child-abusing rapist and a great filmmaker...

    Yeah, right. What are you going to argue next; that slashdot is a great site for simplistic one-dimensional flame wars, and a fantastic source of poorly edited news stories with little substance? Get your head checked, man!

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    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  10. He IS Innocent! by sycodon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone just leaked the entire plot on Wikileaks.

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    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  11. I smell haters..... by psinet · · Score: 2, Funny

    Unfortunately Australia and his old battalion of merry men are asleep - and what with the cliff-hanger Australian Election results still undecided, every journo in Australia has their head busily up their arse searching for "meaning" in a popularity contest that is voted on by uninformed hillbilly mountain scientists. There is no meaning.

    Anyhow my bet is on Assange. He has the points on the board so far, and one hell of an information gathering resource behind him. Just the 4chan crazies alone should scare anyone who wants to put a foot wrong tackling Assange. Everyone loves a hero - almost as much as they love tripping up the anti-hero.

  12. Re:This just in by Adambomb · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or if he needs to become a supervillain bent on world domination, i wonder if Gene Hackman can help anyways.

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    Ice Cream has no bones.
  13. Re:This just in by h4rm0ny · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Swedish courts can't do things like that. They can decide on prison sentences, community service, fines, and a few other things, but they can't forbid someone from using Internet, or make up new types of punishment on the fly.

    Somebody mod that country +2 Insightful.

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    Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
  14. Hide ya kids, Hide ya Wife! by MoldySpore · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...and hide ya husband, because they're rapin' everybody out here! You don't have to come and confess, the US Government is lookin for you!

    Sorry, it had to be done.

    This rape accusation stinks of government involvement, its way too convenient for this to come up now. Long live Wikileaks!

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    "I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."

  15. Re:Shame on you by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Funny

    America, you should be ashamed of the way your country wages war. Using the accusation of rape as a weapon....

          You have to admit that it's an improvement over shooting your own or allied troops.

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    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  16. Re:This just in by Compaqt · · Score: 2, Funny

    Rape, murder? Eh.

    Just wait for the really big one:

    He torrented a movie off of Pirate Bay.

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    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  17. If I didn't know any better... by pyite · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I didn't know any better, I'd honestly think this is the next plot in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.

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    "Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman

  18. Re:This just in by kenj0418 · · Score: 4, Funny

    (bad stuff) [wikipedia.org]
    (bad stuff) [wikipedia.org]
    (bad stuff) [wikipedia.org] ...

    Sounds like we're going after the wrong wiki. Wikipedia seems to be the real threat to the the US. Any volunteers to say Jimbo gave them the bad touch?

  19. Re:This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    4. The girls are **blowing** the situation out of proportion (either intentionally or unintentionally).
     

    That proves it. They consented.

  20. Re:Not Rape? by h4rm0ny · · Score: 5, Funny


    I was raped once.
    Of course I didn't find out until his credit card was declined.

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    Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
  21. Re:Tell That To His Dick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?
    Applicant: Rape, murder, arson, and rape.
    Hedley Lamarr: You said rape twice.
    Applicant: I like rape.

  22. Re:This just in by endymion.nz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not for Americans. :)

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    mediocrity rules, man
  23. Re:This just in by nomel · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hrmm, first thing I said to myself was, "He looks like a computer nerd."

    I guess I'm looking through #cf6275 colored glasses, though.