Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange arrested in London

World Thursday 11/April/2019 14:47 PM
By: Times News Service
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange arrested in London

London: Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was arrested on Thursday at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

London’s Metropolitan Police said that he was arrested for failing to appear in front of the court.

Assange had taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations to international conventions.

But WikiLeaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law”.

UK’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK.

"I would like to thank Ecuador for its cooperation & metpoliceuk for its professionalism. No one is above the law."

Assange will remain in the custody of the UK and will face charges at Westminster Magistrates' Court "as soon as is possible.”

Assange refused to leave the embassy earlier claiming that he would be extradited to the US where he would be questioned about the activates of WikiLeaks.