Swedish rape warrant for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange cancelled

The Swedish Prosecution Authority website said the chief prosecutor had come to the decision that Mr Assange was not suspected of rape but did not give any further explanation.

The warrant was issued late on Friday.

Wikileaks, which has been criticised for leaking Afghan war documents, had quoted Mr Assange as saying the charges were “without basis”.

That message, which appeared on Twitter and was attributed directly to Mr Assange, said the appearance of the allegations “at this moment is deeply disturbing”.

In a series of other messages posted on the Wikileaks Twitter feed, the whistle-blowing website said: “No-one here has been contacted by Swedish police”, and that it had been warned to expect “dirty tricks”.

In its “official blog” on Saturday before the warrant was cancelled, Wikileaks said it was “deeply concerned about the seriousness of these allegations. We the people behind Wikileaks think highly of Julian and and he has our full support”.

The current whereabouts of Mr Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, are unclear.