Assange turns on Guardian in Times interview

Julian Assange in an interview in The Times today turns on the Guardian, one of the favoured few "media partners" given exclusive access to WikiLeaks material.

Assange accuses the Guardian of unfairly tarnishing him by revealing details of the sex assault allegations he faces in Sweden. He said that the decision to publish police files about him was “disgusting”.

The Times says: "Mr Assange is understood to be particularly angry with Nick Davies, a senior reporter at the paper and former friend, for 'selectively publishing' incriminating sections of the police report, although The Guardian has made clear that the WikiLeaks founder was given several days to respond and it is known that some graphic detail of his conduct with one woman was not published.

"Mr Assange claims that the newspaper received leaked documents from Swedish authorities or 'other intelligence agencies' intent on jeopardising his defence. 'The leak was clearly designed to undermine my bail application,' he said. 'Someone in authority clearly intended to keep Julian in prison'.”

• David Rose claimed in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend: "A senior journalist who worked closely with Mr Assange at the Guardian, and helped broker the deal that saw the paper become one of a handful of media organisations around the world with privileged, early access to successive WikiLeaks documents, has refused to continue dealing with him."
  
  
  

• The Times is behind a paywall.