Mr Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, BBC reported on Thursday. According to the Metropolitan Police, WikiLeaks founder was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.
Julian Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago 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.
Assange’s arrest caused a stir on the social media, but Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew WikiLeaks founder’s asylum after his repeated violations to international conventions.
Meanwhile, 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. I would like to thank Ecuador for its cooperation & metpoliceuk for its professionalism. No one is above the law.”
The 47-year-old Assange had refused to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy, claiming if he did he would be extradited to the United States for questioning over the activities of controversial WikiLeaks.
Prior to appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court “as soon as is possible”, The arrested Julian Assange would remain in custody at a central London police precinct.
The Metropolitan police said: “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.
It comes a day after Wikileaks said it had uncovered an extensive spying operation against its co-founder at the Ecuadorean embassy.
