Julian Assange: Rape claim against Wikileaks founder dropped

http://news.sky.com/story/prosecutors-drop-rape-claim-investigation-against-julian-assange-10883877

Swedish prosecutors say they are dropping the investigation into an allegation of rape against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

He has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, claiming political asylum in order to escape a European Arrest Warrant over the claim.

Mr Assange has not set foot outside the building for five years, ultimately fearing he could end up being extradited to the US over WikiLeaks' exposés.

However, he could now finally leave the Knightsbridge address.

The Australian tweeted a picture of himself smiling and relaxed following the announcement.

Mr Assange has always denied the three sex offence allegations and was questioned six months ago inside the embassy by Swedish authorities.

A statement from the prosecutor said: "Director of Public Prosecution, Ms Marianne Ny, has today decided to discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape (lesser degree) by Julian Assange."

But Metropolitan Police said he is still wanted for a "much less serious" offence - referring to a breach of bail in June 2012.

"The MPS will provide a level of resourcing which is proportionate to that offence," said a statement.

CIA director Mike Pompeo has described Wikileaks as a "hostile intelligence service", fuelling fears by Mr Assange's supporters that America will try to extradite him over information published by the site.

Much of it was provided by former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who has just been freed from jail.

WikiLeaks tweeted this morning: "UK refuses to confirm or deny whether it has already received a US extradition warrant for Julian Assange. Focus now moves to UK."

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Now he just has to worry about the lunatics in Washington......

Not quite: British police said despite Sweden's decision to drop a rape investigation, Assange still faces arrest if he leaves Ecuador's embassy in London. The Metropolitan Police says there is a British warrant for Assange's arrest after he jumped bail in 2012, and the force "is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the embassy." Easiest thing would be to arrest him over the British warrant and deport him back to Australia with a lifetime ban on him getting back into the UK. Then he becomes the US's problem - they can apply for extradition from OZland. LL

I doubt if he is much worried about getting put on a nice Quantas flight back to Australia, LL. No, it's the US that is the problem - they're not going to be happy till they have his head on a spike.