WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Stockholm this month. Photograph: Scanpix Sweden/REUTERS
WikiLeaksfounderJulian Assangehas been questioned by Swedish police over allegations of molestation, his lawyer said today.
Leif Silbersky said police questioned Assange in Stockholm for about an hour last night and formally told him of the allegations against him.
Silbersky said his client denied the accusations and hoped the prosecutor would drop the case.
Police started investigating Assange this month after two Swedish women accused him of rape and molestation, but the prosecutor laterclosed the rape investigation.
Molestation is not a sex crime under Swedish law, but covers offences such as reckless conduct or inappropriate physical contact. It can result in fines or up to a year in prison.
Assange has suggested that the accusations are linked to Wikileaks's release ofsecret US military documents on the war in Afghanistan, which were published in collaboration with the Guardian and two other newspapers.
He wrote on Twitter: "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing." He said the website had been "warned to expect 'dirty tricks'. Now we have the first one."
US authorities criticised the leak, saying it could put the lives of Nato troops and Afghan informants at risk.
Assange has said that Wikileaks intends to release a further 15,000 documents – a pledge condemned by the Pentagon, which has demanded the deletion of the files from the website.
Rape warrant against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange cancelled.
Swedish authorities withdraw an arrest warrant for the founder of the whistleblowers' website on suspicion of rape.
by David Batty and agencies guardian.co.uk, Saturday 21 August 2010 13.20 BST
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He wrote: 'The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing'. Photograph: Scanpix Sweden/Reuters
Swedish authorities have withdrawn an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, stating that the accusation of rape against him was unfounded.
The move came just a day after a warrant was issued by Sweden's prosecutors' office in Stockholm in response to accusations of rape and molestation in two separate cases.
"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape," the chief prosecutor, Eva Finne, said.
She made no comment on the status of the molestation case, a less serious charge that would not lead to an arrest warrant.
Assange has denied both accusations, first reported by the Swedish tabloid Expressen, which were described as dirty tricks on the Wikileaks' Twitter account.
He implied that they were linked to the release by the whistleblowers' website of a huge cache of US military records on the Afghan war, which were published in collaboration with the Guardian and two other newspapers.
Assange wrote: "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."
Earlier postings on the Twitter account implied the accusations were part of a dirty tricks campaign against the Wikileaks founder, who has been strongly criticised by the Pentagon.
"Expressen is a tabloid; No one here has been contacted by Swedish police. Needless to say, this will prove hugely distracting.
"We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks'. Now we have the first one."
Last month Wikileaks released around 77,000 secret US military documents on the war in Afghanistan.
US authorities criticised the leak, saying it could put the lives of Nato troops and Afghan informants at risk.
Assange has said that Wikileaks intends to release a further 15,000 documents in the coming weeks - a pledge condemned by the Pentagon, which has demanded the deletion of the files from the website.
Assange, an Australian citizen, was in Sweden last week 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 gave a talk about his work and defended the decision by Wikileaks to publish the Afghan war logs.
Read this swedish bloggers detailed overview of the Assange-case, from a swedish perspective. This is what one would hope journalists should write like:
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