Paris:
Interpol has placed the founder of the whistle-blowing Website on a so-called red notice wanted list following allegations of sexual misbehaviour by a Swedish prosecutor, according to the police organization's website on Wednesday.
The said Mr. Assange, 39, was wanted for "sex crimes" on an arrest warrant brought by the international public prosecution office in Gothenburg. Interpol is based in Lyon, France. Mr. Assange's whereabouts were not immediately known.
The development came as several newspapers, including The New York Times, published confidential documents from a mass of some 250,000 diplomatic cables from the State Department in Washington including communications concerning American policy in Iran, Pakistan, Korea and many other places.
The Swedish prosecutor's office said almost two weeks ago that a court in Stockholm had approved its request for the arrest of Mr. Assange to face questioning on charges of rape and other sexual offenses. Mr. Assange has strongly denied the accusations.
Marianne New York, director of the Stockholm prosecutor's office, said in a statement at the time that she had moved to have Mr. Assange extradited to Sweden on suspicion of "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion." The accusations were first made against Mr. Assange after he traveled to Sweden in mid-August and had brief relationships with two Swedish women that he has described as consensual.
Lawyers acting for Mr. Assange appealed against the arrest warrant at Sweden's highest court on Tuesday, The Associated Press said in a report that also quoted President of Ecuador as dismissing an offer of residence in his country made to Mr. Assange by a lower official.
According to Interpol's website, a red notice "is not an international arrest warrant" and it is up to national jurisdictions to decide how to act on them.
"Interpol's role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition," the Website said. "These red notices allow the warrant to be circulated worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition."
The latest leaks - following the release of documents relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - have provoked a furor within the Obama administration.
Visiting Kazakhstan, Secretary of State called the leaking of the documents "a very irresponsible, thoughtless act that put at risk the lives of innocent people all over the world, without much regard for those who are most vulnerable, including journalists."
But Mr. Assange found a possibly more predictable ally - his mother, Christine Assange, who runs a puppet theater in Australia's Queensland state, who told Australian radio that she was worried about her son's well-being, Reuters reported. The Australian government, following the United States, has reportedly launched an investigation into whether Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks had broken security or criminal laws.
"He's my son and I love him and obviously I don't want him hunted down and jailed. I'm reacting as any mother would. I'm distressed," she said. "A lot of stuff that's written about me and Julian is untrue."
Mr. Assange has described the accusations against him as "dirty tricks."
According to accounts his accusers gave to the police and friends, they both had consensual sexual encounters with Mr. Assange that became nonconsensual. One woman said that Mr. Assange had ignored her appeals to stop after a condom broke. The other woman said that she and Mr. Assange had begun a sexual encounter using a condom, but that Mr. Assange did not comply with her appeals to stop when it was no longer in use. Mr. Assange has questioned the veracity of those accounts.
He had traveled to Sweden in search of a secure base under the country's broad press freedom laws, but that effort faltered amid the sexual accusations, and Sweden's board announced last month that it had rejected his request for residence. After six weeks, he left the country, saying he had the prosecutors' permission to do so, and flew via Berlin to London. His subsequent movements are not known.
The said Mr. Assange, 39, was wanted for "sex crimes" on an arrest warrant brought by the international public prosecution office in Gothenburg. Interpol is based in Lyon, France. Mr. Assange's whereabouts were not immediately known.
The development came as several newspapers, including The New York Times, published confidential documents from a mass of some 250,000 diplomatic cables from the State Department in Washington including communications concerning American policy in Iran, Pakistan, Korea and many other places.
The Swedish prosecutor's office said almost two weeks ago that a court in Stockholm had approved its request for the arrest of Mr. Assange to face questioning on charges of rape and other sexual offenses. Mr. Assange has strongly denied the accusations.
Marianne New York, director of the Stockholm prosecutor's office, said in a statement at the time that she had moved to have Mr. Assange extradited to Sweden on suspicion of "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion." The accusations were first made against Mr. Assange after he traveled to Sweden in mid-August and had brief relationships with two Swedish women that he has described as consensual.
Lawyers acting for Mr. Assange appealed against the arrest warrant at Sweden's highest court on Tuesday, The Associated Press said in a report that also quoted President of Ecuador as dismissing an offer of residence in his country made to Mr. Assange by a lower official.
According to Interpol's website, a red notice "is not an international arrest warrant" and it is up to national jurisdictions to decide how to act on them.
"Interpol's role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition," the Website said. "These red notices allow the warrant to be circulated worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition."
The latest leaks - following the release of documents relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - have provoked a furor within the Obama administration.
Visiting Kazakhstan, Secretary of State called the leaking of the documents "a very irresponsible, thoughtless act that put at risk the lives of innocent people all over the world, without much regard for those who are most vulnerable, including journalists."
But Mr. Assange found a possibly more predictable ally - his mother, Christine Assange, who runs a puppet theater in Australia's Queensland state, who told Australian radio that she was worried about her son's well-being, Reuters reported. The Australian government, following the United States, has reportedly launched an investigation into whether Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks had broken security or criminal laws.
"He's my son and I love him and obviously I don't want him hunted down and jailed. I'm reacting as any mother would. I'm distressed," she said. "A lot of stuff that's written about me and Julian is untrue."
Mr. Assange has described the accusations against him as "dirty tricks."
According to accounts his accusers gave to the police and friends, they both had consensual sexual encounters with Mr. Assange that became nonconsensual. One woman said that Mr. Assange had ignored her appeals to stop after a condom broke. The other woman said that she and Mr. Assange had begun a sexual encounter using a condom, but that Mr. Assange did not comply with her appeals to stop when it was no longer in use. Mr. Assange has questioned the veracity of those accounts.
He had traveled to Sweden in search of a secure base under the country's broad press freedom laws, but that effort faltered amid the sexual accusations, and Sweden's board announced last month that it had rejected his request for residence. After six weeks, he left the country, saying he had the prosecutors' permission to do so, and flew via Berlin to London. His subsequent movements are not known.
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