Assange Arrested
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested inside the Ecuadorian embassy.
Ecuador lifted his diplomatic protection, with President Lenin Moreno saying Assange had “repeatedly violated” the conditions of his asylum in his country’s London embassy.
It has been alleged that Wikileaks were involved in leaking details of President Moreno’s personal life.
Ecuador says it has been given assurances that Assange will not be extradited to any country that has the death penalty.
UK Police were invited into the embassy, where they arrested Assange on charges of breaching bail conditions relating to the now dropped Swedish rape case.
Wikileaks has responded by asking for money.
Video of the arrest from the Guardian:
MORNING UPDATE:
- Overnight, Assange appeared in court charged with skipping bail. He plead not guilty, but the judge was having none of it, calling his defence “laughable” and saying Assange had shown the “behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest”.
- Assange has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on the 2nd of May. He faces up to a year in prison.
- The United States has requested the extradition of Assange and charged him with involvement in computer hacking with Chelsea Manning. The Metropolitan police said the arrest was made on behalf of the US authorities.
- The US justice department said Assange faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
- The president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, said he secured guarantees from the UK that Assange would not face the death penalty or torture. However, former President Rafael Correa, who granted Assange asylum, accused Moreno of treachery.
- Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer for one of the two Swedish women who accused Assange of rape, welcomed the arrest. The Swedish prosecution authority has not yet commented.
- Assange has lost one prominent supporter. Donald Trump has fallen out of love with Wikileaks, saying the organisation “was not his thing”.