Swedish lawyer says Assange wants to help probe, only fears U.S. extradition

Swedish Vice Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson announces that the prosecutor will re-open the preliminary investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of rape and sexual harassment of two women in 2010, at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden May 13, 2019. TT News Agency/Anders Wiklund via REUTERS

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wants to help put Swedish rape allegations to bed and only fears being extradited to the United States, his Swedish lawyer said on Monday, calling Sweden's decision to reopen the investigation "an embarrassment".

"I'm surprised. It's embarrassing for Sweden to reopen the investigation," Per E Samuelson told Swedish TV.

"He has always wanted to help solve this Swedish issue, his big predicament in life is that he risks being extradited to the United States because of his journalistic work."

Sweden's state prosecutor said on Monday she would reopen a rape investigation involving Assange and that circumstances now existed to seek his extradition from Britain.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Esha Vaish)