The fact the rape allegations are irrelevant to the issue at stake never seems to escape the UK press, who continually use it as an excuse to dump on a man who exposed US war crimes, and thus by proxy press freedom itself. But it never ever seems to apply to the Guardian, who did exactly the same thing as Assange did, before they viciously turned on him and turned his plight into a big joke, someone to snark and snipe at because he's 'hiding in a cupboard'.