London police said Assange was arrested moments after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said on Twitter that the country had withdrawn his diplomatic asylum
International News: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was expelled from his hideout in Ecuador’s embassy in London Thursday and promptly arrested by London police on US charges of conspiracy. Assange was arrested moments after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said on Twitter that the country had withdrawn his diplomatic asylum. Video showed a handcuffed and disheveled Assange being dragged out of the embassy and placed in a police van.
The American warrant relates to an alleged conspiracy with US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in early 2010. In a US indictment, unsealed Thursday, prosecutors said Assange worked with Manning to hack a password on the Defense Department computer network holding classified documents.
The 47-year-old has been in the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 when he sought to escape questioning in a Swedish sexual-assault case. While those charges were dropped in 2017, Assange has remained in the small London apartment as he has continued to dodge UK police and American prosecutors.
Assange’s exit from the embassy ends a nearly seven-year standoff between the controversial transparency advocate and British authorities. While he will initially face punishment for jumping bail, Assange faces a lengthy extradition battle over the US charges.
At Westminster Magistrates Court, prosecutors painted a turbulent scene at the embassy, saying Assange tried to resist police by trying to barge past them into his room and yelled that his arrest was illegal. Assange, who was found guilty by judge Michael Snow of bail violations, will next appear in court on May 2…
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