What are Julian Assange’s Sex Charges All About?

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Is WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange guilty of rape? That’s for a Swedish court to decide. But if you’re interested in the details of exactly what the charges against Assange are, Richard Pendlebury has a pretty thorough rundown in the Daily Mail today. Basically, it involves consensual sex that allegedly turned unconsensual because (in one case) a condom broke and (in the other case) Assange refused to wear a condom in the first place — both of which are crimes in Sweden under the circumstances Assange is charged with (i.e., forcibly continuing with intercourse despite the withdrawal of consent). Pendlebury is very clearly skeptical of both the charges and the women who brought them (“the more one learns about the case, the more one feels that [] the allegations simply don’t ring true”), so you should ignore some of the loaded language he uses. But he does lay out the basic narrative fairly well.

It’s pretty obvious that the timing of the sex charges against Assange is fishy. At the same time, it’s striking — though not really surpising — how ideologically charged this has become. The motivations of the accusers aside, if there’s evidence that the Swedish court system is corrupt I haven’t heard it yet. Skepticism may be in order, as it is with anyone accused but not convicted of a crime, but Assange’s guilt or innocence surely depends on the evidence, not on whether you approve or disapprove of WikiLeaks.

UPDATE: Reuters has more details here: “The two Swedish women who accuse WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of sexual misconduct were at first not seeking to bring charges against him. They just wanted to track him down and persuade him to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, according to several people in contact with his entourage at the time.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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