Pamela Anderson to campaign for men falsely accused of rape - inspired by Julian Assange friendship

Baywatch star says Swedish rape laws are 'too progressive'

Pamela Anderson has said she will start campaigning for men who have been falsely accused of rape.

The former glamour model – who has previously fought publicly for women's rights – criticised Sweden for being “almost too progressive” in its legislation against sexual assault.

She defended her friend, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to the Scandinavian country.

Mr Assange faces a rape accusation in Sweden, which is not set to expire until 2020.

The WikiLeaks chief has denied the charge, maintaining that extradition to Sweden could lead to him being send to US to face charges for posting a raft of secret documents online.

“Sweden has these very progressive laws against sexual crimes, whatever you want to call it," Ms Anderson told Russian broadcaster, RT .

“It’s almost too progressive, it’s almost paralysing," she said, announcing that she would start to push for the rights of men who have been wrongly accused of rape.

“We all of course gravitate towards vulnerable people and we consider that to be women and children, first and foremost, which is important, but there’s also a lot of men who are in a vulnerable situation.

Defending her friend Mr Assange, she said: “When you read the actual case, and you read everything about it, there’s no crime that’s been committed.”

Sweden, where victims are strongly encouraged to come forward with rape allegations, has the highest incidence of reported rapes in Europe, .

According to one Brussels-backed 2009 study, more than 5,000 rapes are reported in Sweden every year, compared to a few hundred in nations of a comparable size.

The country broadened its definition of rape in 2005, which is thought to have led to an increase in the number of recorded incidents in the years immediately following the change.

According to some Ecuadorian politicians, Mr Assange may soon be asked to leave the embassy

One presidential candidate, who will fight in the election next week, has promised that he will "cordially ask" Mr Assange to leave if he wins.