- Julian Assange Arrested by British Police
Australian Computer programmer, Julian Assange, was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Thursday after seven years.
The founder of WikiLeaks, who’s accused of one of the largest leaks of classified information in the U.S., is facing possible extradition to the U.S., where he is being accused of conspiring with the former American army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, to hack classified U.S. government computer.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), “When Australians travel overseas and they find themselves in difficulties with the law, well, they face the judicial systems of those countries, it doesn’t matter what particular crime it is they’ve alleged to have committed. That’s the way the system works,” Morrison told ABC.
“Mr Assange will get the same support that any other Australian would … he’s not going to be given any special treatment,” he said.
Mr Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and became renowned for publishing secret information and news leaks that have caused embarrassment for governments and public officials around the world.
Ecuador embassy withdrew its asylum on Thursday after seven years of protecting Mr Assange and invited British Police to remove him due to his behaviour and uncertainty surrounding his mental state.
There were reports of abnormal behaviour, an anonymous employee of the embassy, interviewed by CNN, said he once smeared faeces on the walls of the embassy and won’t stop playing loud music in the middle of the night.
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno On Thursday announced that he has run out of patience with Mr Assange and was withdrawing his asylum status, describing Assange as an “inherited” problem from his predecessor.
“The patience of Ecuador has reached its limit on the behavior of Mr. Assange.”
Moreno described Assange as “discourteous and aggressive” while inside the embassy and accused him of confronting and mistreating guards.