Julian Assange Wikileaks Co-founder Arrested in London

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has finally been arrested after seven years of residing in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. 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 Metropolitan 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”.

URGENT: Ecuador has illigally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago.https://t.co/6Ukjh2rMKD

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 11, 2019

URGENT: Julian Assange has been arrested by UK police.

DONATE:https://t.co/vvbZBOgCwL

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 11, 2019

URGENT

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

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.”

Nearly 7yrs after entering the Ecuadorean 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 & @metpoliceuk for its professionalism. No one is above the law

— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) April 11, 2019

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”.