Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy kicking and screaming Thursday as British police arrested him on both UK and US warrants.
“Julian Assange, 47, has today, Thursday 11 April, been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the Embassy of Ecuador,” police said in a statement.
Dramatic video shows several officers pulling Assange out of the building, as he yells,” “The UK has no stability!”
Assange — sporting an overgrown gray beard — was busted after police were “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum,” authorities said.
His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, tweeted that Assange “has been arrested not just for breach of bail conditions but also in relation to a US extradition request.”
She explained that a US warrant was issued in December 2017 and is related to his alleged conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who leaked a slew of classified materials to Wikileaks, in early 2010.
The UK warrant is related to bail jumping in 2012 when he sought political asylum at the Ecuador embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden, which was probing him on rape allegations.
Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station, where he will remain before facing prosecution before Westminister Magistrates’ Court as soon as possible, police said.
In a tweet, Wikileaks said, “Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago.”
Ecuador President Lenin Moreno said his government withdrew Assange’s political asylum status over his “repeated violations of international conventions and daily-life protocols.”
“Today, I announce that the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable,” Moreno said in a video Thursday.
Moreno added that Britain has promised to Ecuador that Assange won’t be extradited to a country that has the death penalty.
“In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr. Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty,” Moreno said. “The British government has confirmed it in writing, in accordance with its own rules.”
Assange had been holed up in the building since 2012, when he applied for asylum there to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault charges. Assange has maintained his innocence in the Swedish case — in which he was accused of raping and molesting two women.
Prosecutors dropped their investigation in 2017 — but Assange never stepped foot outside the Ecuador embassy out of fear that he would be extradited to the US to face espionage charges.
Authorities in the US have drafted up an arrest warrant and extradition papers, an official told the Washington Post.
Last year, Assange, an Australian national, was granted Ecuador citizenship.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government was aware of his arrest.
“Mr. Assange will continue to receive the usual consular support from the Australian Government. Consular officers will seek to visit Mr. Assange at his place of detention,” she said in a statement.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, claimed Wednesday that his organization has uncovered a “Truman-show-like” spying operation against Assange within the embassy.
Hrafnsson said photos, documents video and audio recordings chronicling Assange’s every step in the embassy were recently sent to WikiLeaks by “Spanish individuals.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...-arrested-after-hes-evicted-from-embassy/amp/
“Julian Assange, 47, has today, Thursday 11 April, been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the Embassy of Ecuador,” police said in a statement.
Dramatic video shows several officers pulling Assange out of the building, as he yells,” “The UK has no stability!”
Assange — sporting an overgrown gray beard — was busted after police were “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum,” authorities said.
His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, tweeted that Assange “has been arrested not just for breach of bail conditions but also in relation to a US extradition request.”
She explained that a US warrant was issued in December 2017 and is related to his alleged conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who leaked a slew of classified materials to Wikileaks, in early 2010.
The UK warrant is related to bail jumping in 2012 when he sought political asylum at the Ecuador embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden, which was probing him on rape allegations.
Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station, where he will remain before facing prosecution before Westminister Magistrates’ Court as soon as possible, police said.
In a tweet, Wikileaks said, “Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago.”
Ecuador President Lenin Moreno said his government withdrew Assange’s political asylum status over his “repeated violations of international conventions and daily-life protocols.”
“Today, I announce that the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable,” Moreno said in a video Thursday.
Moreno added that Britain has promised to Ecuador that Assange won’t be extradited to a country that has the death penalty.
“In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr. Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty,” Moreno said. “The British government has confirmed it in writing, in accordance with its own rules.”
Assange had been holed up in the building since 2012, when he applied for asylum there to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault charges. Assange has maintained his innocence in the Swedish case — in which he was accused of raping and molesting two women.
Prosecutors dropped their investigation in 2017 — but Assange never stepped foot outside the Ecuador embassy out of fear that he would be extradited to the US to face espionage charges.
Authorities in the US have drafted up an arrest warrant and extradition papers, an official told the Washington Post.
Last year, Assange, an Australian national, was granted Ecuador citizenship.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the government was aware of his arrest.
“Mr. Assange will continue to receive the usual consular support from the Australian Government. Consular officers will seek to visit Mr. Assange at his place of detention,” she said in a statement.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, claimed Wednesday that his organization has uncovered a “Truman-show-like” spying operation against Assange within the embassy.
Hrafnsson said photos, documents video and audio recordings chronicling Assange’s every step in the embassy were recently sent to WikiLeaks by “Spanish individuals.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...-arrested-after-hes-evicted-from-embassy/amp/
