Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was today arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped. Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Assange’s asylum after his repeated violations of international conventions.
But Wikileaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Assange’s political asylum in violation of international law. U K Home Secretary Sajid Javid in a tweet confirmed the arrest of Assange.
Assange had been in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012, after seeking asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation – which was later dropped. But he still faces a lesser charge of skipping bail in 2012 and he says this could lead to an extradition to the US for publishing US secrets on the Wikileaks website.
The statement added, Assange would remain in custody at a central London police station, before appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Meanwhile, the lawyer of the Swedish woman who accused Julian Assange of rape in 2010 said she and her client would ask Swedish prosecutors to reopen the investigation which was dropped in 2017.
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