Interpol has placed Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, on a red notice wanted list over allegations of sexual misbehavior by a Swedish prosecutor, the police organisation has announced on its website.
The notice said Assange, 39, is wanted for “sex crimes” on an arrest warrant brought by the international public prosecution office in Gothenburg, Sweden. Interpol is based in Lyon, France.
The Red Notice does not amount to an arrest warrant. It asks people to contact the police if they have any information about his whereabouts. Assange's current whereabouts are not known.
The notice comes on the heels of several newspapers, including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais, The New York Times, publishing confidential documents from some 250,000 diplomatic cables from the US State Department in Washington including communications about American policy in Iran, Pakistan, Korea and many other countries.
A Swedish court on November 18 had ordered the detention of Julian Assange. The prosecutor's office had started an investigation into allegations of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion against Assange in September.
Assange's Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig said that the WikiLeaks founder, who has consistently denided the allegations made against him, has not attempted to abscond from Sweden to avoid punishment and that he has "tried to cooperate with the prosecutor throughout the process."
