WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested on and was dramatically carried out of the Ecuadorean embassy in Central London on April 11. The move came after the Ecuadorean Embassy withdrew his asylum status and after the United States requests for extradition, reported BBC.
What is WikiLeaks?
The WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation founded in 2006, publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media provided by anonymous sources. One of the significant classified leaks that the website has published was Hillary Clinton’s email flubs and footage of US soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
Assange, Australian born was taken to Westminster Magistrates’ Court where he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court. Assange now faces US federal conspiracy charges for leaking one of the largest US government secrets. His extradition now remains in the hands of the UK. Jennifer Robinson, the lawyer of Assange, said that they would be fighting the extradition request. She further thrashed the US government and said that it is a dangerous time for journalists who could face US charges for “publishing truthful information about the United States”.
What are the charges against him?
In 2010, Chelsea Manning was arrested for sharing more 70,000 confidential documents and videos to the website. She was found guilty by a court-martial in 2013. Later on, her jail sentence was commuted. The state of Virginia alleged that Assange conspired with Chelsea to get his hands on the classified information on Department of Defense computers.
Assange took asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 after facing extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault.The investigation was later dropped since Assange had denied arrest warrant. Lenin Moreno, the president of Ecuador, withdrew its protection saying that the government has reached its limit on the behavior of Mr Assange. Moreno referred Wikileaks of Vatican documents as a recent example of Assange’s menace.
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