WikiLeaks' Assange Tells Aftonbladet He Never Forced Anyone to Have Sex

Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, says he has never had sex with anyone against their will, denying rape charges brought against him in Sweden, Aftonbladet reported today, citing an interview with Assange.

“What I can say is that I have never, in Sweden or in any country, had sex with anyone in a way that hasn’t been based on voluntariness by both sides,” Assange told the newspaper.

Assange was arrested in absentia by a Swedish prosecutor on charges of rape and molestation. A second prosecutor later dropped the rape charges against him, which Assange, who started WikiLeaks in July 2007, said were “deeply disturbing” and “without basis.”

Conceived as an electronic dead drop for confidential documents, WikiLeaks.org receives material that governments and businesses seek to keep secret and publishes them so that they remain in the public domain forever. In July, it published more than 91,000 U.S. military reports from Afghanistan, prompting the U.S. Defense Department to demand they were returned and purged, saying they threatened the safety of troops and Afghans.

“I don’t know what is behind all this, but we have been warned that, for example Pentagon, would use dirty tricks to destroy things for us,” Assange told Aftonbladet. “And, I have also been warned about sex traps.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Niklas Magnusson in Stockholm at nmagnusson1@bloomberg.net

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