LONDON (Halbeeg News) – The police in the UK have today arrested Swedish, and the U.S wanted the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange after being evicted from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
Assange has been hiding in the embassy where he took refuge in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questions about sexual assault allegations.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that Mr. Assange, 47, had been arrested by officers at the embassy on a warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates’ Court in 2012, for failing to surrender to the court.
“I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the U.K.,” Home Secretary Sajid Javid said.
Confirming the arrested of its founder, WikiLeaks said in a Twitter post that “Julian Assange did not “walk out of the embassy”. The Ecuadorian ambassador invited British police into the embassy, and he was immediately arrested.”
He has insisted that the accusations against him are false and has said that the Swedish authorities intend to hand him to the United States.
The United States Justice Department has filed criminal charges against Mr. Assange, related to the publication of classified documents.
The Australian national also faces a charge in a British court of jumping bail.
Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and made news four years later with the publication of leaked information provided by Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, and self-described whistleblower.
These included a video of a U.S. military helicopter fatally shooting people in Iraq, and thousands of classified military logs revealing sensitive information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq thought to be the most significant leaks in U.S. military history.
Discussion about this post