Antinuclear

 In an October 2012 letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder, they asked the Department of Justice to give its word that Assange will not be extradited, subject to indefinite detention or prosecution under the Espionage Act for the activities of WikiLeaks, but with no response, he and his Swedish accusers remain in legal limbo, calling into question whether Assange’s civil liberties and the women’s right to take their accusations through the criminal justice process can both be upheld.

Government Tactic of Smearing Whistleblowers 

Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project represented high-profile whistleblowers Thomas Drake, who outed an illegal surveillance program at the National Security Agency, and former CIA official John Kiriakou, who shared information about torture with the press.

“If Sweden really gave a damn about [the accusations], they would take up Mr. Assange on his offers to be interviewed,” said Radack…..

“Certainly sex charges and sex has been an issue that has been used to undermine the credibility” of other whistleblowers, said Radack.

The tactic has been used to discredit not only whistleblowers but also their supporters. According to Radack, “In every single high-profile case I’ve had,” including Kiriakou’s and Drake’s, “I’ve been accused of sleeping with my clients.”

Politicizing Gender-Based Crime

While it remains unknown whether such a strategy plays a role in Assange’s case, widespread suspicions have been enough to raise concerns about using accusations of rape, a crime that disproportionately affects women, as a smear tactic against whistleblowers.

“It really speaks to how little respect and value is placed on women and women’s lives,” said Claudia Garcia-Rojas, a journalist who spent three years at the Chicago Task Force on Violence Against Girls and Young Women…..

Shedding Light on a Shadowy Subculture

Assange is often referred to as a “hacker” or “blogger” while First Amendment lawyers, among others, equate  his work on WikiLeaks’ with journalism. The split suggests cyberactivism is not only controversial, but also not yet well understood. Gabriella Coleman, a communications professor at work on a book about the hacktivist collective Anonymous, says the accusations against Assange and the often sexist criticism of his accusers are not strong indicators of hacktivist culture.

“It is a very, very male world,” said Coleman, but “it doesn’t tend to be a culture like football where you’re talking about the ladies and scoring with them and that kind of thing.” ….. http://truth-out.org/news/item/14196-with-assange-in-diplomatic-limbo-sweden-in-no-rush-to-press-rape-charges