WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested After Ecuador Withdraws Asylum

According to a short note released^[1]
by London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Assange has been arrested
immediately after the Ecuadorian government today withdraws
asylum.

Assange has now been taken into custody at a central London
police station, from where he will be presented before Westminster
Magistrates’ Court as soon as possible.

Following his arrest on Thursday, Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno
tweeted^[2], “In a sovereign
decision, Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange
after his repeated violations to international conventions and
daily-life protocols.”

However, WikiLeaks
said^[3] Ecuador had acted
illegally in terminating Mr Assange’s political asylum “in
violation of international law.”

Assange’s arrest comes a day after WikiLeaks editor Kristinn
Hrafnsson accused the Ecuadorian government of an extensive spying
operation against Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange was wanted by British police for failing to surrender to
the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in August 2012, while he was
under investigation for sexual assault and rape allegations in
Sweden.

Although Sweden dropped its preliminary investigation into the rape
accusation against Julian Assange in 20117, Assange chose not to
leave the Ecuadorian Embassy due to fears of extradition to the
United States.

In the United States, Assange is facing federal charges for
leaking diplomatic cables and military documents through his
popular publication WikiLeaks in 2010 that embarrassed the U.S.
governments across the world.

Although U.S. authorities have never officially confirmed the
charges against Assange, late last year U.S. prosecutors accidentally
revealed the existence^[4]
of criminal charges against Assange in a document filed in an
unrelated sex crime case.

Assange, the 47-year-old Australian hacker, founded WikiLeaks in
2006 and has since made many high-profile revelations through the
platform, exposing ‘dirty’ secrets of several political parties,
individuals, and government organizations across the world.

Assange has been forced to live in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy
since June 2012, when a U.K. court ordered his extradition to
Sweden to face sexual assault and rape charges filed against him.

However, his relationship with Ecuador has deteriorated in the
past year. The country cut him off the
Internet^[5] since March 2018 after
he breached its agreement to refrain from interfering in other
states’ affairs that could affect the country’s relationship with
other nations.

The circumstances even made it difficult for Assange to do his
job of editor-in-chief to run WikiLeaks and forced the
whistleblower organization to appoint its new
editor-in-chief^[6], Kristinn Hrafnsson.

In July last year, the Ecuadorian President also reportedly
visited London to finalize a deal with UK government to withdraw Assange’s
asylum protection—eventually turning him over to Britain where
he is facing an arrest warrant after skipping a bail payment.
The story is developing….
^[7]