Will Promiscuity Doom Wikileaks Founder?
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Even though many believe he should be tried for treason, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is currently in British custody for crimes allegedly committed in a lifestyle of one-night-stands and reckless promiscuity.
London's Daily Mail is reporting that Assange, who was arrested by British police yesterday, faces criminal prosecution and possible jail time for alleged sex crimes committed in Sweden a few months ago.
The case against him began on August 11 of this year when he was invited by the left-leaning Brotherhood Movement to be the keynote speaker at a seminar on "war and the role of the media" in Stockholm. His contact person for the seminar was an attractive 30-something blonde named Sarah (not her real name). Even though the two had never met, she invited him to stay at her apartment during the conference because she would be out of town until the seminar began.
As Sarah later told police, she arrived home a day early and after having dinner with Assange at a local cafe, decided he could stay. That night they had sex during which time the condom he was wearing broke, an occurrance that would become very significant later.
The next day at the seminar, Assange gave his speech and found himself attracted to a twenty-something young lady who was sitting in the front row. Later, he and Sarah met the girl who began to hang around with them. At some point, Assange and the girl, who was dubbed "Jessica" by Mail reporter Richard Pendlebury, went to lunch and then a movie. They agreed to meet again soon.
That evening, Sarah threw a party for Assange during which time he phoned Jessica and made arrangements to travel to her home in Enkoping where the two had sex several times, once without any "protection." Jessica later told police that she had been upset that Assange refused to wear a condom when she asked him to.
Assange then returned to Stockholm and Sarah's apartment.
In the meantime, Jessica began to worry about whether or not she contracted a sexual disease or became pregnant during the encounter and decided to phone Sarah to speak to her about Assange. It was during this conversation that the women learned they both had sex with Assange.
As a result of this conversation, Sarah reportedly phoned an acquaintance of Assange and said that she wanted him to leave her apartment. Pendlebury reports that Assange refused to do so, and maintains that she allowed him to stay until Friday of that week.
The two women then decide to take action and went to the Stockholm police station to seek advice about how to file a complaint. Jessica wanted Assange to be forced to undergo an HIV test. The female officer who interviewed the women determined that allegations of a "sabotaged condom" in one case and the refusal to wear one in another made both women victims of Assange and the two decided to file charges. Jessica is charging Assange with rape and Sarah with sexual molestation.
These are the charges that prompted the first call for his extradition.
Not long after this the chief prosecutor in the case dismissed the rape charges, saying Assange was guilty of only minor offenses, but by now the case had become international news. Both women were talking to the press, with Sarah claiming that their sexual relations were "consensual from the start but had eventually turned into abuse."
Even though there were accusations of an international plot to trap Assange, Sarah insisted this wasn't true. "The accusations were not set up by the Pentagon or anybody else. The responsibility for what happened to me and the other girl lies with a man with a twisted view of women, who has a problem accepting the word 'no'."
Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens is calling the charges a "political stunt" and is vowing to fight it on the grounds that it could lead to the WikiLeaks founder being handed over to the American authorities because Sweden has an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Last week after a Swedish High Court refused to hear his appeal against arrest, extradition papers were presented to police in England where Assange was staying on a six-month visa. He was picked up by Scotland Yard on Monday and appeared in court yesterday where a British judge promptly denied him bail.
Assange is currently vowing to fight extradition.
Meanwhile, his website is continuing to release classified U.S. diplomatic cables and says they will not stop doing so, regardless of what happens to their founder.
"This will not change our operation," Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told The Associated Press.
Not long after making this statement, the site released a cache of new documents.
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