Sweden drops rape investigation against Julian Assange

Swedish prosecutors have revealed they have closed a seven-year rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“Director of Public Prosecution, Marianne Ny, has today decided to discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape by Julian Assange,” it said in a statement.

Mr Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden to answer questions about sex-crime allegations from two women.

He has been there ever since, fearing that if he is arrested he might ultimately be extradited to the United States.

Friday’s announcement means Mr Assange is no longer under any investigation in Sweden.

British police said before the announcement that Mr Assange is still wanted in Britain for jumping bail.

Westminster Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant for Mr Assange after he failed to surrender to the court in June 2012.

“The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the embassy,” an MPS spokesman said.

“Whilst Mr Assange was wanted on a European Arrest Warrant for an extremely serious offence, the MPS response reflected the serious nature of that crime,” he said.

“Now that the situation has changed and the Swedish authorities have discontinued their investigation into that matter, Mr Assange remains wanted for a much less serious offence.

“The MPS will provide a level of resourcing which is proportionate to that offence.”

Just last month, the United States’ Attorney-General said the arrest of the Australian fugitive was a “priority”.

US prosecutors are believed to be preparing charges against WikiLeaks and its founder, according to US media.

Last month, WikiLeaks released nearly 8000 documents it said revealed secrets about the CIA’s cyber-espionage tools for breaking into computers, mobile phones and even smart TVs.

It previously published 250,000 State Department cables and embarrassed the US military with hundreds of thousands of logs from Iraq and Afghanistan.

CIA director Mike Pompeo last month denounced the group as a “hostile intelligence service” and a threat to US security.

The Washington Post reported last month that prosecutors were considering charges against the organisation after the Obama-era Justice Department declined to do so. Possible charges include conspiracy, theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act.

US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions was asked whether it was a priority for him to arrest Mr Assange.

“We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks, ” he said.

“We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious.

“So yes, it is a priority.”

His lawyer Barry Pollack said he was not aware of any developments.