Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has dismissed as “fantasy” claims by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that Sweden’s case against him is a conspiracy to have him extradited to the United States.
Assange has been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in Britain for eight months as he seeks to avoid extradition to Stockholm over allegations of rape and sexual assault, creating a stand-off between Quito and London.
Carr told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation late Monday that Assange, an Australian citizen, would be safer in Sweden than Britain.
“The Swedes say ‘it is our policy... that we never extradite someone on a matter to related to military or intelligence’, Carr said.
“They just don’t do it.”
“To suggest that the Swedes are after him as a CIA conspiracy to get him to Stockholm and allowing him to be bundled off to Langley, Virginia [CIA headquarters] is sheer fantasy,” Carr said.