Rape allegation 'dirty tricks' says WikiLeaks boss

THE founder of WikiLeaks said he was the victim of a smear campaign last night after Swedish prosecutors withdrew an arrest warrant involving a charge of rape.

• Assange: no case to answer

The warrant was withdrawn less than a day after being issued, with Swedish authorities saying it was based on an unfounded accusation.

The accusation had been labelled a dirty trick yesterday by Julian Assange and his group, who are preparing to release a fresh batch of classified US documents from the Afghan war, despite the furore surrounding the last batch released.

Yesterday morning, Swedish prosecutors had urged Assange - a 39-year-old Australian whose whereabouts were unclear - to turn himself in to police to face questioning in one case involving suspicions of rape and another based on an accusation of molestation.

But later Eva Finnie, the chief prosecutor, said in announcing the withdrawal of the arrest warrant that: "I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape." She did not address the status of the molestation case, a less serious charge that would not lead to an arrest warrant.

Assange had dismissed the rape allegations in a statement on WikiLeaks' Twitter page, saying "the charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing".

In a brief email to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, Assange wrote: "Why these accusations have come at this time is an interesting question. I have not been contacted by the police. The claims are false."

In a separate email to another Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, he wrote: "Of course the accusations of rape aren't true."

Assange was in Sweden last week seeking legal protection for the whistleblower website, which angered the Obama administration earlier this month by publishing thousands of leaked documents about US military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The internet was buzzing yesterday with conspiracy theories about the Swedish moves, most claiming Assange had been targeted because of WikiLeaks' publication of classified files relating to the war in Afghanistan.

The first files in WikiLeaks' 'Afghan War Diary' revealed classified military documents covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.

Assange said last week that the group planned to release a new batch of 15,000 documents from the Afghan war within weeks. The Pentagon says the information could risk the lives of US troops and their Afghan helpers and have demanded WikiLeaks return all leaked documents and remove them from the internet.

A WikiLeaks spokesman, who said he goes by the name Daniel Schmitt in order to protect his identity, said the "extremely serious allegations" against Assange came as a complete surprise.

WikiLeaks' Twitter page had a link to an article in Swedish tabloid Expressen, which first reported the allegations, which said: "We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks'.Now we have the first one."

Assange was in Sweden last week partly to apply for a publishing certificate to make sure the website, which has servers in Sweden, can take full advantage of Swedish laws protecting whistleblowers. He also spoke at a seminar hosted by the Social Democratic party and announced he would write bi-monthly columns for a left-wing Swedish newspaper.