WikiLeaks founder denied Swedish residency permit

Sweden has denied residency to the controversial founder of the whistleblower site WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. Swedish authorities refused to disclose their reasons for rejecting Assange's residency application, claiming the information is confidential.

According to The Local, Assange applied for Swedish residency and a work permit in order to gain legal status as the publisher of WikiLeaks, which has several servers based in Sweden. The move would have given the website better protection from disclosing its sources under Sweden's laws regarding freedom of the press.

Swedish authorities said the Australian-born Assange was notified of the decision by e-mail and couldn't confirm whether he is still in the country. His last public appearance was at City University in London on Sept. 30.

Scrutiny on Assange increased dramatically following the arrest of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is suspected of aiding WikiLeaks' release of 70,000 classified U.S. military documents from the war in Afghanistan in August. Assange has said the site will release a similar trove of documents regarding the war in Iraq in the coming weeks.

Assange visited Sweden this summer to deliver a speech and discuss moving the site there, but his visit was marred by accusations of rape and molestation leveled against him by two women between the ages of 25 and 35. Swedish authorities issued an arrest warrant for Assange in August, only to withdraw it the next day. Prosecutors later reopened the case; it is reportedly still under investigation. Assange has reportedly admitted to meeting with both women in question.

Assange said this summer that he has been advised to avoid the United States and has insinuated his legal problems represent an attempt to silence WikiLeaks. He also recently slammed Wired magazine on Twitter, calling the Condé Nast publication a "known opponent and spreader of all sorts of minsinformation about WikiLeaks" and claiming senior editor Kevin Poulsen "is responsible for a tremendous amount of other completely false information [about] WikiLeaks."

Poulsen later responded that Assange is "notoriously sensitive to critical press."