One cannot really make the judgment on this being a "smear" or not at this point: to include it in the title is irresponsible at best.

The circumstances seem a bit odd (two assaults so close to eachother without a previous history) which could suggest framing either by an external entity or the women involved.

According to http://expressen.se, the women apparently do know eachother and have at some point been reluctant to co-operate with the investigators expressing either "being scared to death" or "being in fear for their lives" because of Assange's high status (the meaning being a bit unclear from the context).

Still, the accusations are serious and need to be investigated - which should have happened without publicity but that tends to be utopic when a public figure is concerned.