WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange arrested inside London Ecuadorian embassy - Peter Barry Chowka

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by Peter Barry Chowka

After holing up there since 2012, the world’s leading leaker is finally taken into custody

Breaking this morning: shortly after dawn today on the East coast: WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was arrested by London police and taken into custody shortly before 11 a.m. London time.
NBC News reported:

Assange was wanted by British police for skipping bail in August 2012, while he was under investigation for sexual assault and rape in Sweden.

Dramatic video of the arrest: https://youtu.be/rY6v63jMyl4

Screen shot of Assange arrest from widely circulated video on social media.

According to the BBC in an article posted 12 minutes ago as I write:

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.

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".

One of the questions to be resolved is whether Assange will now be extradited to the United States where he faces charges.

The BBC:

Mr Assange, 47, had refused to leave the embassy, claiming if he did he would be extradited to the United States for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks.
Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.
Mr Assange would remain in custody at a central London police station, before appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court "as soon as is possible", the statement added.
UK foreign minister Sir Alan Duncan said the arrest followed "extensive dialogue between our two countries".
It comes a day after Wikileaks said it had uncovered an extensive spying operation against its co-founder at the Ecuadorean embassy.

Image credit: Screen grab from Ruptly video, via The Guardian

Peter Barry Chowka writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications. Peter's new website is http://peter.media. Follow him on Twitter at @pchowka

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/04/wikileaks_julian_assange_arrested_inside_london_ecuadorian_embassy.html

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