Swedes pencil in session for Assange questioning

(News Today) - Swedish authorities have scheduled a time to interrogate the founder and editor of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.

Karin Rosander, Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman, confirmed the development on Thursday, but couldn't "disclose what time or what day" Julian Assange will be questioned.

She did say that it would be "sooner rather than later."

Assange says Swedish authorities still haven't given him details of the crime he is alleged to have committed.

"The present investigation of issue (there are no charges), is one alleged non-sexual 'harassment,'" Assange wrote Thursday in an e-mail to CNN. "I have no idea what this is and no details have been provided to us."

Swedish authorities arrested Assange "in absentia" over the weekend on two charges -- rape and molestation, a non-sexual charge that is similar to harassment.

The chief prosecutor has since revoked the arrest warrant and dropped the rape charge, though Assange still faces the molestation allegation.

Leif Silbersky, the lawyer representing Assange, told CNN this week his client strongly denies all the accusations.

Assange told CNN that although he no longer is accused of rape, the allegations have been damaging.

"As a result of the case mishandling and the smear, there are currently millions of web pages with my name and 'raped' or 'rape' and over six million with 'sexual,'" Assange wrote to CNN.

"The damage they have caused me and WikiLeaks is enormous," Assange told the Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet in an article published Thursday.

Assange told the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera on Sunday the accusations are "clearly a smear campaign." The only question, he said, is who is behind it.

The attorney for the alleged victims has told CNN that rumors of possible Pentagon or CIA involvement in the sex crime accusations against Assange are "complete nonsense."

The allegations follow WikiLeaks' release last month of 76,000 pages of U.S. documents related to the war in Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has criticized the leak, saying it would have a significant negative impact on troops and allies, revealing techniques and procedures.

Assange has defended the leak, saying it can help shape the public's understanding of the war. He said the material was of no operational significance and that WikiLeaks tried to ensure the material did not put innocent people at risk.

Source : CNN

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