Sweden Reopens Rape Case Against Julian Assange

A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other. The case was dismissed last week by the chief prosecutor in Stockholm, who overruled a lower-ranked prosecutor and said there was no reason to suspect that Assange had raped a Swedish woman. The woman's lawyer appealed the decision, and today the director of public prosecution decided to reopen the case, saying new information had come in yesterday.

She declined to say what new information had been received or whether Assange would be arrested. She also decided to investigate another complaint against Assange of "sexual coercion and sexual molestation." That overruled a previous decision to only investigate the case as "molestation," which is not a sex offense under Swedish law. Assange has denied the allegations and suggested they are part of a smear campaign by opponents of WikiLeaks. (More Julian Assange stories.)