Assange, an Australian, was in Sweden last week to discuss his work and defend his intent to publish further documents on the war in Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose whistle-blowing website caused an uproar last month with a leak of secret US military files on Afghanistan, has been charged in Sweden with rape and molestation, the national prosecutor's office said today.
Assange was quoted by a Swedish daily as denying the allegations.
Assange, an Australian, was in Sweden last week to discuss his work and defend his intent to publish further documents on the war in Afghanistan.
He has close ties with the Nordic country, where WikiLeaks has said it keeps some of its servers.
"We can confirm that he's wanted. He was charged last night — the allegation is suspected rape," said Karin Rosander, director of communications at the national prosecutor's office.
"One is rape and one is molestation," she said, without giving details.
Assange, whose whereabouts are unclear, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter via email that he had not been contacted by police.
"Why these accusations are popping up right now is an interesting question," he wrote. "I have not been contacted by police. These allegations are false."
No WikiLeaks spokesperson was available on telephone.
US officials have called the leak, including more than 70,000 documents detailing the war in Afghanistan, one of the biggest security breaches in US military history.
WikiLeaks promotes the leakage of information to fight government and corporate corruption. Earlier this year, it leaked a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists.
The Pentagon said this month that it would be the "height of irresponsibility" if WikiLeaks went through with a new threat to publish outstanding documents it had on the Afghan war.
It wants the site to expunge all classified material from the internet and return the material it has to the US government.
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