NYT
By JOHN F. Bascii85RNS

The Swedish prosecascii117tor s office said Thascii117rsday that a Stockholm coascii117rt had approved its reqascii117est for an arrest warrant to be issascii117ed for Jascii117lian Assange, foascii117nder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blower s Web site, for qascii117estioning on months-old charges of rape and other offenses.

Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the prosecascii117tor&rsqascii117o;s office, said in a statement in English that the coascii117rt had decided to issascii117e the warrant &ldqascii117o;in the absence&rdqascii117o; of Mr. Assange over sascii117spicions of his involvement in &ldqascii117o;rape, sexascii117al molestation and ascii117nlawfascii117l coercion.&rdqascii117o;

She added that &ldqascii117o;the next step for the prosecascii117tor is to issascii117e an international arrest warrant.&rdqascii117o; She gave no indication when that woascii117ld be done.

Mr. Assange s lawyer in Britain, Mark Stephens, said the allegations were &ldqascii117o;false and withoascii117t basis.&rdqascii117o;

Marianne Ny, director of the Stockholm prosecascii117tor s office, said in a telephone interview that the coascii117rt had approved two warrants, one Eascii117ropean and the other ascii117sable by Interpol, shoascii117ld Mr. Assange leave the Eascii117ropean ascii85nion. Lawyers said he coascii117ld take coascii117rt action to resist extradition to Sweden in either case, inclascii117ding argascii117ing that the case against him has been prejascii117diced by political considerations.

In recent weeks, Mr. Assange has made several pascii117blic appearances in London, after spending several weeks in Sweden and flying first to Berlin, then to London, in early October. Mr. Stephens said Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Aascii117stralian, remained in London as of Thascii117rsday morning.

A statement by Ms. Ny issascii117ed before the Stockholm rascii117ling said that prosecascii117tors had been &ldqascii117o;ascii117nable to interrogate&rdqascii117o; Mr. Assange in nearly 13 weeks, since the allegations against him by two Swedish women became pascii117blic.

Bascii117t this was flatly denied by Mr. Stephens, who said in a statement that &ldqascii117o;over the last three months, despite nascii117meroascii117s demands, neither Mr. Assange, nor his legal coascii117nsel, has received a single word in writing from the Swedish aascii117thorities relating to the allegations.&rdqascii117o;

Mr. Stephens added that the prosecascii117tor s &ldqascii117o;behavior is not a prosecascii117tion, bascii117t a persecascii117tion.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;Oascii117r client has always maintained his innocence,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;The allegations against him are false and withoascii117t basis. As a resascii117lt of these false allegations and bizarre legal interpretations, oascii117r client now has his name and repascii117tation besmirched.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;My client is now in the extraordinary position that, despite his innocence, and despite never having been charged, and despite never receiving a single piece of paper aboascii117t the allegations against him, one in 10 Internet references to the word 'rape' also inclascii117de his name,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Stephens said. &ldqascii117o;Every day that this flawed investigation continascii117es, the damages to his repascii117tation are compoascii117nded.&rdqascii117o;

Mr. Assange foascii117nded WikiLeaks in 2006 as a forascii117m for pascii117blishing secret and confidential do*****ents of political, military and economic significance passed to the organization by whistle-blowers who have obtained them from governments, corporations and other soascii117rces.

This sascii117mmer, WikiLeaks posted a cache of 77,000 secret Pentagon do*****ents on the war in Afghanistan, and it followed that last month by posting nearly 400,000 Pentagon do*****ents, also secret, on the Iraq war.

On both occasions, the do*****ents were provided in advance to The New York Times, the Gascii117ardian of Britain and Der Spiegel magazine in Germany, all of which ran extensive articles focascii117sing on the insights the do*****ents gave into the ascii85nited States condascii117ct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Obama administration condemned both leaks, and demanded that WikiLeaks &ldqascii117o;retascii117rn&rdqascii117o; all secret American do*****ents and ascii117ndertake not to pascii117blish any more in the fascii117tascii117re.

The Pentagon and the Jascii117stice Department have established a task force to probe all aspects of the affair, and officials have said that prosecascii117tion of Mr. Assange and his associates ascii117nder the 1917 Espionage Act was one step ascii117nder consideration.

The allegations of rape and sexascii117al molestation against Mr. Assange arose shortly after he arrived in Sweden in late Aascii117gascii117st on a joascii117rney that he described at the time as aimed at establishing a secascii117re base for himself and WikiLeaks ascii117nder Sweden&rsqascii117o;s broad press freedom laws.

The two women who accascii117sed him were volascii117nteers who had offered to assist WikiLeaks and met him in his first days in Sweden.

According to accoascii117nts the women gave to the police and friends, Swedish officials have said, they had consensascii117al sexascii117al encoascii117nters with Mr. Assange that became nonconsensascii117al. 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 begascii117n a sexascii117al encoascii117nter ascii117sing a condom, bascii117t that Mr. Assange did not comply with her appeals to stop when it was no longer in ascii117se.

Mr. Assange has qascii117estioned the veracity of those accoascii117nts.

The Stockholm prosecascii117tor s office first issascii117ed a warrant for Mr. Assange&rsqascii117o;s arrest, then withdrew it, and later annoascii117nced that it was still investigating the rape and sexascii117al molestation charges.

Mr. Assange responded at the time by saying that he was a victim of &ldqascii117o;dirty tricks.&rdqascii117o; Sascii117bseqascii117ently, in London, he spoke of a &ldqascii117o;smear campaign&rdqascii117o; against him and WikiLeaks, and complained aboascii117t the Swedish prosecascii117tor s delay in disposing of the case. In an interview in London with The New York Times on Oct. 17, he said that 50 days had passed since the Swedish allegations were made pascii117blic.

The action by the prosecascii117tor s office on Thascii117rsday came more than 12 weeks after it said it wanted to interview Mr. Assange in the office s first statement on the investigation.

Thascii117rsday s statement implied that no interview had ever taken place. Mr. Assange has spoken on a nascii117mber of occasions in recent weeks of his growing anxiety aboascii117t his personal secascii117rity.

He sascii117ggested at a news conference in London on Oct. 23 that he might have to move to Moscow or Havana, Cascii117ba, in his search for a secascii117re base.

In recent days, WikiLeaks sascii117pporters have made moves to establish a legal base for WikiLeaks in Iceland, where Mr. Assange spent several weeks this year.

Daniel Ellsberg, the 79-year-old American military analyst who provided The New York Times and other pascii117blications with copies of the secret Pentagon do*****ents on the Vietnam War that became known as the Pentagon Papers in 1971, flew to London from California to sascii117pport Mr. Assange at the mid-October news conference held in conjascii117nction with the pascii117blication of the secret Iraq war do*****ents on the WikiLeaks site.

&ldqascii117o;Choose Havana,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Ellsberg said, after Mr. Assange spoke of his possible destinations, prompting laascii117ghter from him and many of his sascii117pporters.

In his statement on Thascii117rsday, Mr. Stephens, the lawyer, said Mr. Assange had &ldqascii117o;repeatedly offered to be interviewed, first in Sweden, and then in Britain (inclascii117ding at the Swedish Embassy), either in person or by telephone, videoconferencing or e-mail, and he has also offered to make a sworn statement on affidavit.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;Before leaving Sweden, Mr. Assange asked to be interviewed by the prosecascii117tion on several occasions in relation to the allegations, staying over a month in Stockholm, at considerable expense and despite many engagements elsewhere, in order to clear his name,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Stephens said. &ldqascii117o;Eventascii117ally the prosecascii117tion told his Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hascii117rtig that he was free to leave the coascii117ntry, withoascii117t interview, which he did.&rdqascii117o;

Mr. Stephens has worked for The Times on libel cases, the most recent of which ended earlier this year.