Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at
the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to
avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been
dropped.
The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to
surrender to the court. Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr
Assange's asylum after his repeated violations of international conventions.
But Wikileaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in
terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international
law".
Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "I can confirm
Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK.
Mr Assange, 47, had been in the Ecuadorean embassy in
London since 2012, after seeking asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden on
a rape allegation - which he denied and was later dropped.
But he still faces a lesser charge of skipping bail in 2012
and he says this could lead to an extradition to the US for publishing US
secrets on the Wikileaks website.
Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the
ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.
Mr Assange would remain in custody at a central London
police station, before appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court "as
soon as is possible", the statement added.
The Ecuadorean president said the country had "reached
its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange" after he intervened in the
internal affairs of other states.
Mr Moreno said: "The most recent incident occurred in
January 2019, when WikiLeaks leaked Vatican documents.
"This and other publications have confirmed the
world's suspicion that Mr Assange is still linked to WikiLeaks and therefore
involved in interfering in internal affairs of other states."
BBC
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