A16 The World
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KLMNO TODAYTHROUGHSUNDAY,SEPTEMBER 19
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
Sex allegations against founder derailWikiLeaks’momentum
Assange says he’s being set up; release of more documents on hold
BY EDWARD CODY
stockholm—Until a fewweeks ago, Julian Assange was riding high. The self-appointed paladin of
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uncomfortable truth had just whipped up a media storm in Washington, revealing 70,000 classified Pentagon documents that portrayed the U.S. war in Afghanistaninawayoftenatodds with the official cheerleading. Further riling the intelligence bu- reaucracy, his WikiLeaks organi- zation was promising that 13,000 more such documents had been leaked and would be made avail- able soon. But since that triumph in July,
which U.S. officials qualified as a dangerous transgression of secre- cy rules, Assange, and by exten- sion his crusade, has been dam- aged by allegations from two Swedishwomenthathe subjected one torape andtheother tosexual harassment, according to assess- ments by Assange, his attorney and his associates. As a result, within WikiLeaks,
an amorphous collection of com- puter wizards who publish data thatgovernments try tokeepfrom the public, some Assange follow- ers have proposed that he back away fromhis public role, at least pending the rape proceedings. From WikiLeaks’ beginnings in 2006, however, Assange has been not only the leader but also its soul; it is an open question how effective the loose networkwould be without his relentless cam- paigning.
In seclusion Assange, a lanky 39-year-old
Australianwithunrulywhitehair, has gone intoseclusionherewhile Sweden’s director of public prose- cution,MaryanneNy, investigates the accusations and decides whether to bring formal charges. In several interviews and online statements, meanwhile, Assange has proclaimed his innocence.He indeed had sexwith the twowom- en, he said, but it was consensual inboth cases. The accusations, he suggested,
were part of a U.S.-orchestrated smear campaign to undercut WikiLeaks’ prestige, discourage potential leakers and, in particu- lar, frustrate plans to reveal the next batch of classified Pentagon documents. Although the sexual miscon-
duct accusations are murky and the handling of the case has been controversial, no evidence has surfaced that Assange fell victim to some kind of intelligence-agen- cy honey trap, according to As- sange’s supporters and Swedish journalists who have investigated the case. But if there had been a trap, itwas successful, embarrass- ingAssangeandcallinghis leader- ship into question. “There have been headlines all
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over the world about my being accused of rape. They won’t just disappear,” Assange acknowl- edged to Stockholm’s Aftonbladet newspaper. “AndIknowbyexperi- ence thatWikiLeaks’ enemieswill continue to bandy around things even after they have been re- nounced. I don’t know who is be- hind this, but we have been warnedthat, for example, thePen- tagon plans to use dirty tricks to spoil things for us.” BirgittaJonsdottir,anIcelandic
member ofParliamentwho assist- ed Assange in editing an Army helicopter cockpit video revealed in April, said after reviewing the Stockholm police report that she doubted that the charges resulted from a U.S. manipulation. “But once the reports were in the me- dia, powers that are used to ma-
BERTIL ERICSON/SCANPIX VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
JulianAssange, accused of rape and sexual harassment, says he’s innocent. Sweden is investigating whether to bring formal charges.
nipulatingthemediaimmediately seized on it,” she added in a tele- phone interviewfromReykjavik. Leif Sibersky, a Stockholm de-
fense lawyer retained by Assange, launched his public defense by accusing the prosecutor of proce- dural irregularities that resulted in unproved accusations being aired inthe Swedish press, irrepa- rably damaging Assange’s reputa- tion.ButSiberskyhasbeenunable todeal effectivelywiththecharges themselves, he said, because the prosecution has yet to provide him with official information on what thewomentold police. Ironically, Assange came to
Sweden for protection from his enemies.ThePirateParty, a Swed- ish political group dedicated to free access to Internet informa- tion, signed an agreement with himthat, according to party lead- erRickFalkvinge,wasdesignedto bestow the legal protection of a recognized Swedish political par- ty toWikiLeaks activities here. Perhaps most important, As-
sange hoped to benefit from Swedish press protection laws, among the most stringent in the world. Not only are journalists protected from revealing their sources, officials explained, they also are forbiddenunder lawfrom revealing them if the source re- quests it. Moreover, they noted, government officials are barred frominvestigating—or even ask- ing—whothesourceofaleakwas, except in certain cases affecting national security. Against that background, the
nomadic Assange had applied for a Swedish residence permit, say- ing this country was the only one where he could feel safe from at- tempts by U.S. and other officials to prosecute him. Editors at Af- tonbladet had contracted with him to write a periodic column, givinghimstatusasajournalist so he could benefit from the protec- tive legislation.
Tide turns for founder So things seemed to be going
swimmingly when Assange ap- peared at a news conference and seminar in Stockholm on Aug. 14 that had been organized by the Brotherhood, a Christian affiliate of Sweden’s Social Democratic Party, to explain the arrival of WikiLeaks to the Swedish public. The Brotherhoodwas acting as
Assange’s host during his visit in Sweden, and a woman who be- longed to the Brotherhood was working as his spokeswoman and assistant. Assange was staying at the woman’s home. According to supporters who saw the two to- gether, they were on friendly terms and, at least on one occa- sion, gave the impression they were enamored of each other. But by the evening of Aug. 20,
that all changed. Assange’s host and a second woman appeared at Stockholmpolice headquarters to complain of his conduct, accord- ing to Karin Rosander, spokes- womanfor the public prosecutor. According to reports circulat-
ing in Stockholm, Assange’s host spoke about a sexual encounter Aug. 16 at her apartment inStock- holm that led to what the police qualified in a report as sexual harassment. The second woman alleged Assange had raped her Aug. 14, after the seminar, at her home in the nearby town of En- hoping, according to those who have seenthe police report. Assange’s host, whose name is
known in Stockholm but which has not been published, in accor- dance with Swedish law govern- ing sex crimes, said in an inter- view with Swedish journalists that she met the other woman at the seminar. When in a subse- quent conversation she learned of the alleged rape, she told the re- porters, she accompanied the En- hoping woman to lodge a report with police. Armed with the police report,
Rosander said, the prosecutor on call that night concluded that an investigation was warranted to see whether Assange should be charged with rape and sexual ha- rassment. Her conclusion — the opening of aninvestigation—was leaked during the night and ap- pearedinnewspapers andonWeb sites thenextmorning. ButChief ProsecutorEva Finne
quickly countermanded the duty prosecutor. There was no basis in the police report to believe a rape had taken place, she said, so she halted that investigation. As for the query into sexual harassment, she reduced its severity and or- deredaninvestigationintosimple harassment. After that, the two women re-
tained as their attorney Claes Borgstrom, a former government official and a fixture in the Social Democratic Party. On Sept. 1, Borgstrom persuaded Ny, who is director of public prosecution — and Finne’s boss — not only to reinstate the rape investigation butalsotoexpandtheharassment investigation to include the alle- gations of sexual harassment. The prosecutor has not said
when she will hand down her decision whether to order formal charges and a trial. Meanwhile, Assange has been confined to Sweden, and his plans to reveal more documents with another round of fanfare have been crimped. Asked in an al-Jazeera televi-
sion interview whether he had fallen for one of the traps he was always warning about, he re- sponded: “Maybe,maybenot.”
codyej@washpost.com
Four Iraqi prisoners flee U.S. custody
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Baghdad escapees reportedly have ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq
BY JANINE ZACHARIA
baghdad —In an embarrassing and potentially dangerous foul- up, four Iraqi detainees with al- leged links to the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq escaped from U.S. custody at a Baghdad detentionfacility lateWednesday. The escape was an example of
the challenges the United States faces as it scales back its military force and redefines its mission in Iraq. The identities of the four escap-
ees andthe guardswhowereover- seeing their detention were not immediately known.
TheU.S.mil- itary released no details on how the four escaped. Maj.Gen.QassimAtta, an Iraqi
military spokesman, told the As- sociated Press that the four were linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq and were facing thedeathpenalty. They were part of a group of
about 200 detainees who were consideredtoodangerous tohand over to Iraqi controlwhentheU.S. military transferred responsibili- ty for the detention facility at Camp Cropper—renamed Karkh Prison—andits 1,500detainees to the Iraqi government inJuly. A week after the transfer, four
prisoners with alleged links to al- Qaeda in Iraq escaped from the Iraqi side of the prison. The new
Iraqi warden of the prison, who had been appointed at the urging of U.S. officials, vanished shortly after that earlier jailbreak. Wednesday’s escape follows
President Obama’s Aug. 31 an- nouncement of the end of theU.S. combat mission in Iraq. The U.S. military has reduced its forces to 50,000 troopswho remain largely inanadvisory role. The absence of the four prison-
ers was discovered Wednesday night after two other detainees were caught trying to escape. U.S. and Iraqi forces and the
Iraqi Justice Ministry “are work- ing to apprehend these individu- als,” saidMaj. Gen. Jerry Cannon, the deputy commanding general for detainee operations. “This event isunder investigation.”
zachariaj@washpost.com
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