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Swedish court rejects appeal of WikiLeaks' founder

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A Swedish court, the Svea Court of Appeal, said on Wednesday that it had rejected the appeal of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange against the international arrest warrant on him.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange listens during a news conference on the internet release of secret documents about the Iraq War, in London October 23, 2010. [Xinhua]

"The Svea Court of Appeal has today decided to reject Julian Assange's appeal against the Stockholm district court decision to remand him," the court said in a statement.

An international arrest warrant was issued last Saturday after the district court approved the order last Thursday.

The Stockholm District Court ordered an arrest warrant for questioning Assange on an accusation of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion in Sweden in August.

Two women who reportedly attended Assange's seminars launched the accusation in August.

Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, has denied the charges and claimed that the case was part of a "smear campaign" against him because his whistleblower website posted 77,000 secret U.S. files on the Afghan conflict in July and also published an unprecedented 400,000 classified U.S. documents on the Iraq war last month.

Assange is now believed to be in Britain while he was seen in Geneva early this month.

He had applied for a Swedish permanent residence permit earlier, but was rejected by the Swedish Immigration Office.