Wow, this is news. After a warrant accusing Julian Assange, the founder and head of Wikileaks of "rape", the Swedish government just cancelled the warrant. From the BBC news:
The Swedish Prosecution Authority website said the chief prosecutor had come to the decision that Mr Assange was not suspected of rape.
There is very little info out at this moment, and BBC News will update the info soon and I will update this diary.
I have to say that the moment I read about the "accusations of rape" against Julian Assange I thought that something did not sound right. Based primarily on the timing. Assange is someone who has won an award by amnesty international and a very intelligent person.
I will update the diary as soon as the BBC provides more info.
UPDATE 1: There is now a first update in the BBC site
The Swedish Prosecution Authority website said chief prosecutor Eva Finne had come to the decision that Julian Assange was not suspected of rape and so was not subject to arrest. It said Eva Finne would make no further immediate comment.
That's all we know so far. The obvious question now is who were these 2 women and why the filed these "rape allegations"? Will see if the Swedish government will investigate this further.
UPDATE 2: BBC just published a profile of Julian Assange. Very interesting.
UPDATE 3 Here is an update by the Canadian CBC news.
"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape," chief prosecutor Eva Finne said in announcing the withdrawal of the warrant.
And just a thought I had. Things happened so quickly that one can only wonder if there was some sort of internal disagreement among the Swedish prosecutors. Was there some sort of "civil war" within the Swedish government about it? How on earth could they issue an arrest warrant and withdraw it within hours like that? Sweden has currently a center-right government, but it is generally a very liberal country with a long tradition of openness, real freedom of information and remarkable leaders like Olaf Palme in the past. There are many questions that need to be answered in this case, including who were these women and what were their motives.
UPDATE 4 The New York Times picked the story:
Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blower Web site WikiLeaks who has been embroiled in a fight with the Pentagon over the recent release of classified documents, briefly became the focus of new attention on Saturday when Swedish prosecutors sought him for questioning on rape allegations — then quickly said the accusations were unfounded.
Pentagon officials have described the leak as one of the most damaging in years, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a Pentagon news conference that an inquiry by investigators for the Pentagon and the F.B.I. "should go wherever it needs to go."
UPDATE 6: Smear campaign suspected in Assange arrest - CNN (blog)