Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, arrested after 7 years in Ecuador's London embassy

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London, UK police said on Thursday. WikiLeaks took to Twitter and said that, “Julian Assange did not "walk out of the embassy". The Ecuadorian ambassador invited British police into the embassy and he was immediately arrested.” Yesterday, WikiLeaks had accused the Ecuadorian government of spying on Assange as tensions mounted between the WikiLeaks founder and his hosts. The group's editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told a news conference that Assange's meetings with lawyers and a doctor had been secretly filmed by Ecuadorian authorities.

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Julian Assange did not "walk out of the embassy". The Ecuadorian ambassador invited British police into the embassy and he was immediately arrested.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 11, 2019

 

"He (Assange) has been taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as is possible," a Metropolitan Police statement said, adding that Assange had been arrested on a warrant issued by the same court on June 29 2012, for "failing to surrender to the court." "The MPS (Met Police Service) had a duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster Magistrates' Court, and was invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum," the statement said.

Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and has been living there ever since. Sweden has dropped an investigation into rape allegations against Assange, but he refuses to come out for fear of facing US charges related to WikiLeaks' publication of classified documents.

He also faces arrest in Britain for jumping bail. Relations between Assange and his Ecuadorian hosts have turned sour in recent weeks with a series of accusations from both sides.

Assange's team fears he may be expelled from his refuge. Ecuador's vice president, Otto Sonnenholzner, says Assange will have to "abide by the consequences" if he is found to have violated an embassy protocol put in place in October.

Speaking to the Sonorama radio station, he said, "The only thing Ecuador demands is fulfillment of the protocol, a protocol that limits certain privileges." He said the protocol imposed in October has allowed the country to cut its budget for maintaining Assange, which officials had estimated at $1 million a year.

It sets rules on visits, medical spending, food, internet use and other issues. Sonnenholzner said Foreign Minister Jos Valencia will present a report about compliance with the protocol to President Len?n Moreno on Wednesday, and will do the same on Thursday to congressional leaders.

Following the report, he said, "we will see ... what happens in that situation."