Julian Assange arrested at Ecuadorian Embassy

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London after Ecuador rescinded his asylum and invited British police into the country’s embassy to apprehend him.

Assange had been living in the embassy of Ecuador in London under diplomatic asylum since 2012, and in 2017 Assange granted citizenship by the then socialist Ecuadorian government.

WikiLeaks has maintained that Assange will be extradited to the United States if expelled from the embassy.

Last year, The New York Times reported that Ecuador has been offered debt relief by the U.S. in exchange for handing over Assange.

A United Nations special rapporteur recently asked Ecuador not to expel the WikiLeaks publisher, stating: “Extradition without due process safeguards, including an individual risk assessment and adequate protection measures violates international law, particularly if the destination state practices the death penalty and has not disclose the criminal charges held against the person concerned.”

Deceased Senator John McCain claimed that leaks provided to WikiLeaks by Chelsea Manning, which included the diplomatic cables, caused U.S. foreign sources to be harmed.

However, it was in fact an error on the part of a far-left Guardian journalist, not WikiLeaks, that led to the full unredacted cables leaking to third parties on the web. Assange attempted to warn the office of the then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, about unintended leaks.

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