WikiLeaks’ Assange arrested in London, accused by U.S. of conspiring in 2010 computer hacking attempt
Washington Post –
Nearly seven years after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, Ecuador revoked his asylum Thursday. Here is what has happened since.
● London’s Metropolitan Police entered the embassy and arrested Assange “on behalf of the United States.”
● Assange was found guilty in a British court of breaching bail in 2012.
● A U.S. federal court unsealed a 2018 indictment charging Assange with conspiring to hack a Defense Department computer to publish classified U.S. documents.
LONDON — British authorities arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday in response to an American extradition request, and a U.S. federal court unsealed an indictment charging him with a single count of conspiracy to hack a classified Defense Department computer.
Assange was taken into custody by British police after Ecuador rescinded his asylum at its embassy in London, ending a media-saturated standoff that lasted nearly seven years.
London’s Metropolitan Police said that Assange, 47, was “arrested on behalf of the United States authorities.” British authorities originally sought custody of Assange for jumping bail after Sweden requested his extradition in a separate case stemming from sexual assault allegations.
In an indictment unsealed hours later, Assange was accused of conspiring in 2010 with Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst then known as Bradley Manning, and others to illegally obtain secret U.S. military and diplomatic documents whose dissemination could be used to injure the United States.
In his subsequent appearance in court in London on Thursday, Assange was quickly found guilty of breaching his bail, an offense that carries a prison sentence of up to 12 months. He pleaded not guilty to the bail-jumping charge.
Judge Michael Snow reprimanded Assange and said he demonstrated “the behavior of a narcissist.” The court was told that Assange resisted arrest at the Ecuadoran Embassy, shouting, “This is unlawful!”
Assange is due to appear at a later date to be sentenced for the bail charge. He is due to appear again in Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link on May 2 regarding the extradition matter.
Outside court, one of Assange’s attorneys, Jennifer Robinson, said Assange would fight extradition to the United States. She called the action against him “a dangerous precedent for all news media.” Robinson said she was seeking medical care for Assange, whose health she said has suffered during his time in the Ecuadoran Embassy.
The lawyer said Assange told her to thank his supporters and to say, “I told you so,” to the world — presumably a reference to Assange’s long-held prediction that the United States would seek his arrest and extradition if he left the embassy.
In Washington, President Trump was asked Thursday about his professed “love” for WikiLeaks during the 2016 election campaign when the organization was publishing stolen emails damaging to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“WikiLeaks — I love WikiLeaks!” he said in October 2016 at a rally in Pennsylvania, waving a report on the latest disclosures. “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks,” Trump said a few days before the election after a new dump of emails.
Trump told reporters Thursday: “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing. And I know there was something having to do with Julian Assange.” He said Attorney General William P. Barr would deal with the matter, adding: “I know nothing really about it. It’s not my deal in life.”
The U.S. indictment, filed in federal court in March 2018 and unsealed Thursday, accuses Assange of agreeing to help Manning break a password to the Defense Department’s computer network in 2010. That, prosecutors alleged, would have allowed Manning to log in with another username. The indictment includes no evidence that the password-hacking effort actually succeeded.
Even before the attempt to secure a password, Manning had given WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of classified records, prosecutors alleged. The material allegedly included four nearly complete databases, comprising 90,000 reports from the Afghanistan war, 400,000 reports from the Iraq War and 250,000 State Department cables.
Manning was imprisoned for seven years for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses.
Robinson told The Washington Post that Assange met Thursday morning with the Ecuadoran ambassador, who notified him that his asylum was being revoked. Then the Metropolitan Police were invited into the embassy, where they arrested him, she said.
Video of the arrest showed a gray-bearded Assange being pulled by British police officers down the steps of the embassy and shoved into a police van. Assange appeared to be physically resisting. His hands were secured in front of him, but he appeared to be clutching a copy of Gore Vidal’s “History of the National Security State.”
Ecuador, which took Assange in when he was facing the Swedish rape investigation in 2012, said it was rescinding asylum because of his “discourteous and aggressive behavior” and for violating the terms of his asylum.
The British government heralded the development. “Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the law,” Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s foreign secretary, said. “He has hidden from the truth for years.”
Hunt said it was Assange who was “holding the Ecuadoran Embassy hostage in a situation that was absolutely intolerable for them.”
The foreign secretary praised Ecuadoran President Lenín Moreno for making “a courageous decision.”
Sweden dropped its sex crimes inquiry in May 2017. Assange had always denied the allegations. But he faces up to a year in prison in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.
More than anything, however, he fears extradition to the United States, which has been investigating him for alleged espionage, the publication of sensitive government documents and coordination with Russia.
The Russian government accused Britain of “strangling freedom” by taking custody of Assange.
Source: US Government Class
