Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website that leaked thousands of classified US military and State Department documents, was arrested by London police over rape allegations made in Sweden.
Assange, 39, was arrested “by appointment” today at 9.30 am after an international request by Swedish police for the Australian’s detention, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said today in a phone interview. He is to appear at City of Westminster Magistrate’s Court at 2 pm today, a court official said.
The arrest follows a European arrest warrant on one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape allegedly committed in August 2010, the police’s extradition unit said in an e-mailed statement.
WikiLeaks, created in 2006, drew condemnation from the US for posting thousands of classified State Department documents on its website. WikiLeaks.org receives confidential material and posts the information on the internet “so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth,” the organisation says on its website.
The alleged crimes took place in Stockholm and Enkoeping while Assange was in Sweden lecturing about publishing classified US military documents related to the war in Afghanistan. Mark Stephens, Assange’s UK lawyer, has said his client had consensual sex with the women.
International search
Stephens, of the firm Finers Stephens Innocent LLP in London, who regularly represents several media organisations including Bloomberg News, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the arrest. He said earlier today that his client was in talks with police regarding the warrant.
An international search for Assange began after a Swedish court on November 19 approved the warrant. An appeals court upheld the warrant while reducing the case to a “less serious” rape charge. On December 2, the Supreme Court in Sweden rejected Assange’s request to review the case.
A rape sentence in Sweden normally leads to between two and six years in prison. A “serious” case, which involves violence and threats, has a maximum sentence of 10 years. A “less serious” case has an upper limit of four years, Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Mikael Bjoerk said.