Sweden requests detention order for WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

The development sets up a possible future tug-of-war between Sweden and the United States over any extradition of Julian Assange from Britain. Photo / AP

Swedish authorities today issued a request for a detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is now jailed in Britain, a Swedish prosecutor said.

Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson says if the Swedish court decided to detain Assange "on probable cause suspected for rape ... I will issue a European Arrest Warrant."

The development sets up a possible future tug-of-war between Sweden and the United States over any extradition of Assange from Britain.

Assange was evicted last month from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had been holed up with political asylum since 2012. He was then immediately arrested by British police on April 11 and is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.

The Australian secret-spiller also faces a US extradition warrant for allegedly conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.

Persson said Monday that British authorities will decide any conflict between a European arrest warrant and US extradition request for Assange.

On May 13, Swedish prosecutors reopened a preliminary investigation against Assange, who visited Sweden in 2010, after two Swedish women said they were the victims of sex crimes committed by Assange.

While a case of alleged sexual misconduct against Assange in Sweden was dropped in 2017 when the statute of limitations expired, a rape allegation remains. Swedish authorities have had to shelf it because Assange was living at the embassy at the time and there was no prospect of bringing him to Sweden.

The statute of limitations in the rape case expires in August next year. Assange has denied wrongdoing, asserting that the allegations were politically motivated and that the sex was consensual.

Persson said the day and time for the detention hearing at the Uppsala District Court north of Stockholm that will make the decision has not yet been decided.

"However, in my view, the Swedish case can proceed concurrently with the proceedings in the UK," Persson said in a statement.

- AP