WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was been taken into custody by British authorities today about seven years of living in political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy of London.
Assange has lived at the embassy since 2012 out of fear of being extradited to Sweden over sexual assault accusations. CBS reports that the warrant from the Westminster Magistrates’ Court says Assange is being arrested under criminal charges of skipping bail, and he also faces charges in the U.S. for his organization’s repeated publication of stolen, sensitive political documents.
Assange’s arrest may not be a major surprise since Wikileaks has been signaling for the last few days that his embassy expulsion was imminent. Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has signaled his growing displeasure with Assange recently, and today, he announced on Twitter that his government is withdrawing the Wikileaks chief’s legal protections for his “repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols.”
Lenín Moreno
✔@Lenin
In a sovereign decision Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols. #EcuadorSoberano
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Watch above, via CNN.
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