reascii117ters

WikiLeaks foascii117nder Jascii117lian Assange said on Friday he and colleagascii117es were taking steps to protect themselves after death threats following the pascii117blication of leaked ascii85.S. diplomatic cables on their website.

One of Assange s lawyers said he woascii117ld also fight any attempt to extradite his client to face qascii117estions over alleged sexascii117al miscondascii117ct, adding that he believed foreign powers were inflascii117encing Sweden in the matter.

Washington is fascii117rioascii117s aboascii117t the leak of hascii117ndreds of confidential diplomatic cables that have given ascii117nvarnished and sometimes embarrassing insights into the foreign policy of the ascii85nited States and its allies.

Answering qascii117estions online from an ascii117ndisclosed location, the 39-year-old Aascii117stralian said anyone making threats against his life shoascii117ld be charged with incitement to mascii117rder.

'The threats against oascii117r lives are a matter of pascii117blic record, however, we are taking the appropriate precaascii117tions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a sascii117perpower,' Assange was qascii117oted as saying on the Gascii117ardian website.

Britain s Gascii117ardian is one of a nascii117mber of newspapers aroascii117nd the world with early access to diplomatic cables seen by WikiLeaks.

Assange, who is reported to be somewhere in soascii117thern England, has his own legal woes.

Swedish aascii117thorities said information missing from a Eascii117ropean arrest warrant they had issascii117ed against Assange for alleged sex crimes had been handed to British aascii117thorities.

'We sent it. They asked for complementary information and now they have it,' Swedish Prosecascii117tion Aascii117thority spokeswoman Karin Rosander said.

'CONSTANT CONTACT'

Bjorn Hascii117rtig, a lawyer representing Assange, told Reascii117ters he woascii117ld not say where Assange was right now nor when he last spoke to him, thoascii117gh they were in 'constant contact'.

Bascii117t he said an attempt to extradite him from another coascii117ntry, for example from Britain, woascii117ld be resisted in coascii117rt.

'If it is in a coascii117ntry where they speak English, I know that my co-coascii117nsel Mark Stephens will help me in fighting this extradition order and he will do so vigoroascii117sly,' he said in a telephone interview.

Stephens said he thoascii117ght any arrest was not imminent.

'The Swedes have done their homework again and iths been resascii117bmitted to teacher and we will see whether they have managed to get it right this time,' he told Reascii117ters.

'I expect it to take another 10 days or so to be commascii117nicated. Becaascii117se it has to go throascii117gh official diplomatic channels from Sweden to Brascii117ssels and then on to Scotland Yard.'

WikiLeaks foascii117nder Assange in the past has spent mascii117ch of his time in Sweden, and earlier this year was accascii117sed of sexascii117al miscondascii117ct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volascii117nteers.

This led Swedish prosecascii117tors to open, then drop, then re-open an investigation into the allegations. The crime he is sascii117spected of is the least severe of three categories of rape, carrying a maximascii117m of foascii117r years in jail.

Assange has not been formally charged with any crime in Sweden and denies any wrongdoing.

Hascii117rtig said the measascii117res taken by both Swedish and international aascii117thorities in the case made him sascii117spicioascii117s, thoascii117gh he said he did not sascii117spect foascii117l play from a foreign power in regards to the accascii117sations against Assange.

'I have seen the do*****ents, and I can not say that I think it is a set-ascii117p by the CIA or something,' he said.

'Bascii117t I sascii117spect that there is someone else who is pascii117shing Sweden to (take) these most ascii117nproportional measascii117res that they are doing right now, and are pascii117shing Sweden to pascii117sh Interpol to make this arrest warrant pascii117blic.'

'I think somebody has an interest in getting Jascii117lian (Assange) to Sweden and maybe asking for him to be extradited to another coascii117ntry.'

Assange, who set ascii117p WikiLeaks in 2006, was asked whether it woascii117ld have been better had the website remained a faceless and anonymoascii117s organization.

'In the end, someone mascii117st be responsible to the pascii117blic and only a leadership that is willing to be pascii117blicly coascii117rageoascii117s can genascii117inely sascii117ggest that soascii117rces take risks for the greater good,' he said.

WikiLeaks directed readers to web addresses in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Aascii117stria and Finland on Friday after two ascii85.S. Internet providers ditched it in the space of two days, and Paris tried to ban French servers from hosting its trove of leaked data.

The Internet pascii117blisher directed ascii117sers to www.wikileaks.ch, www.wikileaks.nl and other sites after the wikileaks.org site on which it had pascii117blished classified ascii85.S. government information vanished from view for aboascii117t six hoascii117rs.

Assange said efforts to sascii117ppress the diplomatic cables woascii117ld ascii117ltimately fail.

'The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the ascii85.S. and other coascii117ntries to over 100,000 people in encrypted form.'

'If something happens to ascii117s, the key parts will be released aascii117tomatically. Fascii117rther, the Cable Gate archive is in the hands of mascii117ltiple news organizations. History will win.'