Published as a letter in the Guardian in December but thought it was worth reproducing:

Rape claims, WikiLeaks and internet freedom

Many women in both Sweden and Britain will wonder at the unusual zeal with which Julian Assange is being pursued for rape allegations (Report, 8 December). Women in Sweden don't fare better than we do in Britain when it comes to rape. Though Sweden has the highest per capita number of reported rapes in Europe and these have quadrupled in the last 20 years, conviction rates have decreased. On 23 April 2010 Carina Hägg and Nalin Pekgul (respectively MP and chairwoman of Social Democratic Women in Sweden) wrote in the Göteborgs-Posten that "up to 90% of all reported rapes never get to court. In 2006 six people were convicted of rape though almost 4,000 people were reported". They endorsed Amnesty International's call for an independent inquiry to examine the rape cases that had been closed and the quality of the original investigations.

Assange, who it seems has no criminal convictions, was refused bail in England despite sureties of more than £120,000. Yet bail following rape allegations is routine. For two years we have been supporting a woman who suffered rape and domestic violence from a man previously convicted after attempting to murder an ex-partner and her children – he was granted bail while police investigated.

There is a long tradition of the use of rape and sexual assault for political agendas that have nothing to do with women's safety. In the south of the US, the lynching of black men was often justified on grounds that they had raped or even looked at a white woman. Women don't take kindly to our demand for safety being misused, while rape continues to be neglected at best or protected at worst.

Katrin Axelsson
Women Against Rape

photos here from solidarity vigil outside High Court day
:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/64728140@N02/sets/72157627067628825/

Report from World Socialist Website
 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jul2011/ints-j13.shtml

With the monopoly capitalist media inventing and manipulating the news in favour of the Aggression wars of the Imperialist Camp, it becomes necessary to expose their propaganda and lies, so that the truth comes through about what is happening in the real world. Such is the Wikileaks, and the two prisoners of war Manning and Assange. It is imperative that both are freed from the imprisonment that holds them from further exposing the lies and propaganda that hides the truth of the Fascistic Violence that in fact is taking place in the name of freedom and democracy.

These fighters for truth and a truthful press are in reality the real heroes of the times and they need solidarity and support from the true anti-fascist fighters around the world. Viva Press liberation. End polllution wars, not endless wars for more and more pollution. Quit the Illegal stopping of the funding of Wikileaks. Censorship of the press is a state fascistic method of suppression and aggressive war. Viva socialist liberation.