Julian Assange attracts girls 'like Jagger'

Julian Assange attracts girls 'like Jagger'

VICE President calls Assange "high-tech terrorist" as former colleague talks of "groupies".

Mr Biden said the US Justice Department was exploring a legal pursuit of Mr Assange but he stopped short of explaining just how the White House would act.

When asked whether he thought Assange was a high-tech terrorist or a whistleblower, Mr Biden was clear: "I would argue that it's closer to being high-tech terrorist."

Media reports suggest US prosecutors are trying to build a case against Mr Assange on the grounds that he encouraged US Army Private Bradley Manning, who is in US custody, to steal American cables from a government computer and pass them to WikiLeaks.

Mr Assange has denied knowing Manning.

"Like groupies with Mick Jagger"

A former colleague of Mr Assange has claimed the WikiLeaks founder attracted groupies like Rolling Stones frontman and lothario Mick Jagger.

The description of Assange's attraction to women came as Britain's Mail on Sunday claims the two women who say they were sexually assaulted by the WikiLeaks editor would never have complained to police had he agreed to an HIV test.

The WikiLeaks' Swedish co-ordinator said he begged his boss to have the test, both to head off the possible police investigation and for Assange's own peace of mind.

"The two women told me that if he goes to the clinic for an HIV test, then we won't go to the police," said the colleague, insisting on anonymity as he is a prosecution witness.

"I told him, 'Just do it, and anyway, it's good for you, because you're sleeping around'.

"A lot of women were extremely attracted to Julian, and after a few minutes they offered themselves to him.

"From my perspective, they were like groupies with Mick Jagger, and he takes these opportunities."

The co-ordinator said he felt certain the women who both allege Assange forced them to have intercourse in August without using a condom, against their express wishes, had nothing to do with any supposed US plot to discredit him, as Assange has claimed.

He said Assange refused to take the test because he didn't like being blackmailed.

Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said his client later took a test for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, which showed he was not infected.

Meanwhile, an American journalist claims Mr Assange seduced his girlfriend in the same week he slept with two women who are accusing him of sexual assault.

The Mail Online reported the WikiLeaks founder went out to dinner at Stockholm’s Beirut restaurant with the WikiLeaks Swedish co-ordinator, the co-ordinator’s girlfriend, the journalist and his English girlfriend.

The journalist says Mr Assange ignored him and instead concentrated on his girlfriend.

He says he later saw the pair walking hand in hand and claims when he challenged the WikiLeaks founder, "he dropped into a classic fighter’s pose, with his fists up".

AFP December 20, 2010