UPDATE 1: Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station. His arrest was made at a US extradition request, the Metropolitan Police confirmed. Police added that the US cited the Extradition Act while filing the request.
Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said that its country had suspended the citizenship of Assange. Furthermore, the country’s Ministry of Interior is going to provide data about two alleged ‘Russian hackers’ that have ties with Assange. Most likely, the “Russian threat” card will be played to convince the public why the WikiLeaks founder should be extradited to the US.
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Julian Assange was arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Julian Assange has been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service https://t.co/yhOIPbmMo2 pic.twitter.com/dUrDp228In
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 11, 2019
He was arrested under a warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 29th 2012, for failing to surrender to the court.
“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 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.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that Assange was arrested.
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
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.
He also sought sanctuary in the Embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.
Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.
WikiLeaks’ twitter account posted accusations that Assange was illegally arrested.
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
He didn’t “walk out of the embassy,” the Ecuadorian Ambassador invited the UK police to arrest him.
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
WikiLeaks also alleged that Assange’s life was in danger.
This man is a son, a father, a brother. He has won dozens of journalism awards. He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 2010. Powerful actors, including CIA, are engaged in a sophisticated effort to dehumanise, delegitimize and imprison him. #ProtectJulian pic.twitter.com/dVBf1EcMa5
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 11, 2019
As early as April 4th, an anonymous high-level source at the Ecuadorian Embassy revealed to WikiLeaks that Assange would be expelled within “hours to days.”
BREAKING: A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told @WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within "hours to days" using the #INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext–and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest.https://t.co/adnJph79wq
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 4, 2019
WikiLeaks in January also published a list of 140 denials related to the website and Julian Assange.
Some of the more significant leaks Assange and WikiLeaks made include information about a US apache helicopters airstrike in Baghdad, killing 12 including 2 Reuters reported.
Following is a short list of notable WikiLeaks releases:
- December 2007 – WikiLeaks posts the US Army manual for soldiers dealing with prisoners at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay.
- March 2008 – WikiLeaks posts internal documents from the Church of Scientology.
- September 2008 – WikiLeaks posts emails from the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin.
- November 2008 – WikiLeaks posts a list of names and addresses of people it claims belong to the far-right British National Party.
- November 2009 – WikiLeaks posts what it claims are 500,000 messages sent during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- April 5, 2010 – A classified military video is posted by WikiLeaks. It shows a US Apache helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and a number of Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claimed that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.
- May 2010 – The US military detains Manning for allegedly leaking US combat video, including the US helicopter gunship attack posted on WikiLeaks, and classified State Department records. Manning was turned in by Adrian Lamo, a former hacker, who Manning confided in about leaking the classified records.
- July 25, 2010 – WikiLeaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents relating to the Afghanistan war in what has been called the biggest leak since the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. The documents are divided into more than 100 categories and touch on everything from the hunt for Osama bin Laden to Afghan civilian deaths resulting from US military actions.
- October 22, 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes nearly 400,000 classified military documents from the Iraq War, providing a new picture of how many Iraqi civilians have been killed, the role that Iran has played in supporting Iraqi militants and many accounts of abuse by Iraq’s army and police.
- November 28, 2010 – WikiLeaks begins publishing approximately 250,000 leaked State Department cables dating back to 1966. The site says the documents will be released “in stages over the next few months.”
- April 24, 2011 – Nearly 800 classified US military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed in Guantanamo Bay.
- September 2, 2011 – WikiLeaks releases its archive of more than 250,000 unredacted US diplomatic cables.
- February 26, 2012 – WikiLeaks begins releasing what it says are five million emails from the private intelligence company, Stratfor, starting with a company “glossary” that features unflattering descriptions of US government agencies. The authenticity of the documents can’t be independently confirmed.
- July 5, 2012 – WikiLeaks begins publishing more than 2.4 million emails from Syrian politicians, government ministries and companies dating back to 2006.
- July 22, 2016 – WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee staffers. The emails appear to show the committee favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the US presidential primary.
- October 7, 2016 – More than 2,000 hacked emails from Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta are published by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks claims that it has more than 50,000 of Podesta’s emails and pledges to continue releasing batches of documents during the weeks leading up to the election.
- March 7, 2017 – WikiLeaks publishes what they say are thousands of internal CIA documents, including alleged discussions of a covert hacking program and the development of spy software targeting cellphones, smart TVs and computer systems in cars.
One of the bravest men of our time. He along with Chelsea Manning offer the very definition of courage and honor.
I don’t even want to believe this has happened, that he will end up in the hands of the vicious people running Washington, the people we see treating Venezuela with state terror, who daily kill in Syria, in Yemen, in Afghanistan, and a dozen other places.
Our world is literally turned upside down with genuine evil prevailing almost everywhere.
I wonder in just what form the President of Ecuador will receive his thirty pieces of silver from Pompeo and Bolton?
Deposits in a Swiss bank account or a disguised special new aid package for the country?
Assange renditioned and Brexit extended all in the same day. We know who the enemy is.
Went to see Pat Metheny last night. Remember seeing “Falcon and the Snowman when I was in college where I learned about Gaugh Whitlam in Austrailia. A leader who actually did good things for the people of Australia but was against US intervention (pine gap) Can’t have that. So the CIA overthrew him. Like so many other countries. The US government and the Evil Rich hand in hand.
Whitlam also withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam and went to China a year before Nixon, and whilst the US refused to acknowledge that China was a country, rather childishly stating that Taiwan was the real China. Whitlam also gave Australia universal healthcare and free education, all the things Americans hate. Nowadays all Australian government decisions are vetted by the US Ambassador. In my 67 years Whitlam was the only true leader Australia has had.
PS I shook his hand at Lane Cove town hall in the lead up to his election.
Thank you for going above and beyond in your comment. After I learned about Mr Whitlam his story has haunted me for many years. A great man.
I am not my government.
Yes very gloomy indeed. What both events show is just how long the ‘system’ will wait in order to gets its way. It does not seem to weary, and any setback is just circumvented. I no longer have any hope for Brexit. I don’t see a way out. Do you?
Can forget about Brexit; pure theatre.
Just wait for May or whatever creature takes over from her ‘reluctantly’ calling a second referendum during this long delay (with remain on the ballot) in order to break the impasse.
They were never going to carry it out.
Can’t remember who said it first, but if voting changed anything it would be banned.
Vote, vote and vote again until we give the ‘correct’ decision.
The government is just Bread and Circuses. What matters is what comes into contact with your senses. Make friends with your neighbors. You’ll need them as they will you.
Patience and inevitable failure. The Drip Drip Drip of the real world. All I have to do is look at my city,neighborhood, and state. All declining slowly but surely. Read Dmitry Orlov.
I think I have read Dmitry Orlov. I recall reading a piece about the signs of decay. I suppose the hope is that following the fall there will be renewal. The problem with these things is that they may take decades if not hundreds of years, and I am far from certain there will be any renewal at all.
I think May arranged for Assange to be arrested today to cover her Brexit machinations. She poisoned the Skripal’s to bury her Brexit plans.
If they extradite him to America, he will be pardoned or punished lightly under Trump! If they keep him in the UK he is screwed!
China has been poisoning the world. Stealing technology and intellectual property. Now they seem to be the Chosen ones to lead the Eugenics enslaught against the west.
Except that its Anti-White, Anti white male and anti white male christian!
Political zionism at its most evil form!
That the new Eugenics, bread us out! We are the true threat to them
All people in Ecuador know that Lenin Moreno is just a CIA agent ruling Ecuador….nothing else!
Next thing you hear Assange will be said to have committed suicide………with 2 shots to the back of the head as usual………
I agree except I’m reasonably certain that “Chelsea” is a cultural marxist psy-op intended to publicize the one world government trans agenda
Sooo, the MetoPolice and the Knights of Maybe, is continuing to show of their inherent ability to create cluster f….. and yeah, the hole world knew where He was and the Metooos managed to use hours, in London, we are impressed, honest, cross my hart etc, etc.
Fasinating times indeed, revealing crimes against humanity, exposing the lies and fakings of this crimes, and so on, whom is/was behind it all, after wars upon wars based upon lies upon lies, incl the Sykes report, Brits, is now becomed an crime, against the same Gov whom was/is behind it all, what an bunch os nice puppys, pavlovian like, crawls infront of their master, and is complying to continue to hide the truths, but hey, when the Blair ritch Prodject is still in the MSM, you can ask your self, have they no shame, and whom is this benefiting, yeah, cui bono.
But now we all know whom to consdier credible, trustwurthy etc. Wounder how the MSM will spin this one, it will be intresting to follow, when we all know whom is behind the MSM, the same people whom is behind the Imperial banana republic and Britains wars on the world.
The second issue is personal, it maybe best, instead of rotting in an cage, that things evolve, and I think they made an hughe misstake, because this reveals much more than just about an person, this is about covering up crimes against humanity going on for decades.
peace
Assange exploited the help Equador gave him by his demands of Equador´s legal obligation and his cry illegal when they kicked him out. If you cant show just a little bit grateful to the host who saved you, gave you roof, food and bed for free, what are you worth then?
Except they didn’t save him – current Moreno leadership has revoked a formal and legal asylum and citizenship process given by previous Correa leadership. What is the worth of a leadership that fails to honor the state’s prior legal commitments and compromises state’s own rule of law – buckling to pressure of US and Pence’s carrot and stick visit in 2018.
Distraction from yet another extensive Brexit delay?
Last time the Skripals got poisoned. May has a black heart.
Julian needs a cyanide pill, death would be a blessing compared to what the Americans will do to him.
Moreno, has learned from the US how to violate International law and one’s own Constitution. I would love to see the Ecuadorian people charge Moreno with violation of the Constitution, remove him from office and place him where he belongs in prison.
Moreno will just be replaced by the next CIA stooge and the next….and on it goes. Justice resides within the people. Each one of us. No elected leader is going to do our bidding. Its up to us. Look at Assange. It’s a very hard thing to be a non violent martyr.
One day the reserve currency will fail (already in progressJ). On that day, the world will be released from the nightmare of US imperialism. Perhaps then humanity can work towards a common goal having dispensed with the last greedy, psychopathic colonial power.
Proof positive that if you want to be a real journalist and also practice free speech, Russia is the only place to practice these as Britain and the US constantly violate human rights and their own laws.
Some folk erroneously believe that mainstream media should cover this criminalization of journalism however, everyone should remember the main reason the media won’t be concerned about this is the simple fact that corporate media no longer practices journalism.
I would have thought Assange would have made a run for it – this black day was inevitable. He was being detained illegally, zero chance the legal system will offer any protection now.
British have stationed multiple police units outside embassy every day since Assange took asylum there – watching and recording everyone coming and going from the embassy building, and other entrances/exits on the block, day and night.
Amazing. All this police taken away from other cases. How many crimes have gone unanswered in the UK because the UK police had to besiege the Ecuadorian embassy to catch a guy who was a suspect in a rape case? Imagine if they had pulled one of the officers on that deployment and put him on the case of the Jihadi who shot up Arianna Grandi’s concert, how many lives could have been saved? Serious cases gone unsolved, but no, Assange had to be taken in, even if it meant pulling dozens of officers from other cases.
Don’t forget it’s the Swedish leadership that is the primary facilitator of US plans to get their hands on Assange – closely followed by British. These two NATO vassals are competing to prove their obsequiousness to US. If US extradites Assange, they will incarcerate him in extreme conditions – solitary confinement etc – designed to break his will, and the US deep state will do it out of sheer arrogance and spite, for having had both their behavior and their empire shown up for what it truly is.
yeah but sweden is not a party to nato although I have been told that the swedish minister of defence is in pentagon’s pocket to an extent that is close to treason according to some and definitely treasonous according to others.
Fair call – not formal NATO member – but Sweden been acting as one for some time.
Same with Norway. Non-eu in name only
GW Bush appointed Karl Rove as Prefect to govern Sweden, they have been an American colony since that time.
moronistan (aka usa) never forgets and never forgives and payback a certainty. just look at north korea which stood up to the high and mighty moronistan in 1950, look at iran that evicted the shah in 1979 and look at gaddafi, and look at saddam and and and. defy washington and you more or less sign your own death warrant, just wait for the criminally insane and corrupt to the core junta in washington dc when they aim to find snowden, bet your sweet and pretty behind that he is the next target.
and now chelsea manning is in custody for refusal to answer certain questions before a grand jury and now assange – what a bleak day for mankind. the good thing for snowden is that Russia is reliable and won’t trade him for anything!
Assange and wikileaks are just a meme and controlled opposition. If they really wanted him they could have easily taken him out years ago. Dont fall for this bullshit.
How does that help or wxpalin anything. The fact is they took him now under a whore president Moreno. It is still taking him and making an ex ample of him . Disgusting .
America is no better than a brutal imperialist power crushing all before it. Think, Rome in Jesus’s time . No time for allies nor enemies. A pic on the Yankees and their apologist’s houses.
western journalism has died today.
Western journalism died long ago. You can thank the CIA for that. Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely.
“Western journalism died long ago”.
Nope.
Assange was the one keeping it alive.
It died today.
No, the CIA are small players in the deep state playbook. The zionazis are the main players and everyone else fits into their agenda . .
Its all about getting US weapons …the president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, has betrayed his country and has betrayed TRUTH !
Following a June 2018 visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who agreed with President Moreno to improve the US-Ecuador relations which were strained under the presidency of Rafael Correa.
Ecuador launched a security effort with the United States, including buying weapons, radar sets, six helicopters and other equipment, as well as cooperation with the U.S. will include training and intelligence sharing.
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/MYktlOf.jpg)
Apparently Assange was traded out for an IMF loan for Ecuador.
My wish would be for large sections of the public to react as the French Yellow Vests have in response to the Conservative governments arrest of Julian Assange. It has been a horrific week in the UK, firstly the Tories have totally ignored the democratic outcome of the decision to severe all legal and financial ties with Europe. This has been their deliberate intention since the referendum results were announced. They have referred to the vast majority of Brexiteers in a patronizing manner, inferring that we were not aware of all the resulting consequences of leaving. This was a load of ‘Tory Shite’. We were all sick of being controlled by an unelected body in Brussels, of the cost of supporting a second tier of ‘Gravy Train’ MEPs and their entourages, of not being able to refuse entry or expelling serious criminals, of being swamped by immigrants who immediately qualify for preferential financial, hospital and housing support, of the feeling of being outnumbered by immigrants eventually. These were the key issues for the ‘Brexiteers, they wanted an end to it all. The Conservative Goverment and Blairites such as Evette Cooper and Co are TRAITORS in that they have deliberately overidden a Democatic Vote. Not satisfied by denying a legal vote, this week they have dragged Julian Assange out of the Equadorian Embassy to face Trial for jumping bail with a view to extraditing him to the USA on trumped up charges. Why is this? We all know why. It’s because that all the former Colonial countries want to carry on their policies of forced Regime Change, Genocidal Bombing, Drone Attacks and Ethnic Cleansing in the Middle East, Africa and South America. In these conflicts thousands upon thousands of innocents have died or been injured.The USA and the UK are guilty of war crimes including torture, extra judicial killing and illegal attacks on sovereign nations, they are also the architects of the Jewish continual theft of Palestinian lands and of complicity in the subsequent ethnic cleansing.If you vote Conservative you are voting for the continuation all of these international crimes and the suffering of millions of the poorer citizens in these societies Do not let Messers May, Cooper and the Tory Propaganda Machine ‘The Daily Mail’ walk away with impunity, I despise them all and I would like to see them all arraigned on trial for their heartless crimes. It is disgusting tha in the UKt only Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbot have spoken out for Julian’s exposures on the West’s atrocities.