Julian Assange arrested at Ecuadorian embassy in London
WikiLeaks founder arrested for alleged breach of bail at
London embassy where he took refuge for seven years
Kate Lyons
@MsKateLyons
Thu 11 Apr 2019 11.12 BST First published on Thu 11 Apr 2019
10.41 BST
Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy
in London, where the WikiLeaks founder was granted refuge in 2012 while on bail
in the UK over sexual assault allegations against him in Sweden.
Assange, 47, who has spent almost seven years at the embassy
after seeking refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden, was detained after
the Ecuadorian government withdrew his asylum, Scotland Yard said. He was held
on a warrant issued by Westminster magistrates court on 29 June 2012 when he
failed to surrender to the court.
Scotland Yard said: “He 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.
“The MPS [Metropolitan 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.”
Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, said on Twitter: “In a
sovereign decision, Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after
his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols.”
But WikiLeaks said Moreno had acted illegally in terminating
Assange’s political asylum “in violation of international law”.
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “Nearly seven years
after entering the Ecuadorian embassy, 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 the Metropolitan police for its professionalism. No
one is above the law.”
His arrest comes a day after Wikileaks accused the Ecuadorian
government of an “extensive spying operation” against Assange.
WikiLeaks claims meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside
the embassy over the past year were secretly filmed.
Assange had refused to leave the embassy, claiming he would
be extradited to the United States for questioning over the activities of
WikiLeaks if he did so.
At the time, Assange claimed that if he was extradited to
Sweden he might be arrested by the US and face charges relating to WikiLeaks’s
publication of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
How Julian Assange became an unwelcome guest in Ecuador's
embassy
Read more
The journalist and Assange supporter John Pilger called last
week for people to “fill the street outside the embassy and protect him and
show solidarity with a courageous man”.
US authorities have never officially confirmed that they
have charged Assange, but in November 2018 a mistake in a document filed in an
unrelated case hinted that criminal charges might have been prepared in secret.
The court filing, submitted apparently in error by US
prosecutors, mentioned criminal charges against someone named “Assange” even
though that was not the name of the defendant. Legal analysts said the error
was likely to have been caused by prosecutors copying and pasting from sealed
documents.
The relationship between Assange and his hosts has soured
over the years. In March, Assange’s internet access was cut off and he was
forbidden from having visitors.
The Ecuadorian president had said Assange had “repeatedly
violated” the conditions of his asylum in his country’s London embassy.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário