Sweden Drops Rape Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

SWEDEN DROPS RAPE INVESTIGATION AGAINST WIKILEAKS FOUNDER …

As reported in the NY Times, prosecutors in Sweden have dropped the rape investigation into the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. For the past five years, Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London after the authorities in Stockholm opened a preliminary rape inquiry against him. Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny said in a statement, that the prosecutors office said it decided to end the investigation because “there is no reason to believe that the decision to surrender him to Sweden can be executed in the foreseeable future.”

Prosecutors in Sweden said on Friday that they would drop their investigation into Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who sought refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London five years ago after the authorities in Stockholm opened a preliminary rape inquiry against him.

With a legal cloud hanging over him, Mr. Assange, 45, an Australian, had refused to go to Sweden for fear of being extradited to the United States, but the prosecutors’ decision does not mean that Mr. Assange is in the clear.

In Britain, he still faces a warrant for failing to appear in court, and the London police said on Friday that they would arrest Mr. Assange, who has maintained his innocence, if he tried to leave the embassy.