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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Gabrielle Canon(now), and Tom McCarthy Frances Perraudin and Matthew Weaver (earlier)

Assange arrest: Trump claims to 'know nothing about WikiLeaks' despite past praise – as it happened

Here's the latest:

  • Tulsi Gabbard, a US presidential candidate, came out in defense of Assange, warning that his arrest is a threat to “Americans and journalists”.
  • It turns out Assange’s cat, known online as Embassy Cat, didn’t live at the Embassy with him after all. Or at least not since he was asked to pay for its care last year.
  • Assange’s arrest has sparked concerns from US free speech advocates, worried that this could set a precedent for the government to go after journalists. Legal experts pushed back, saying the charge intentionally targets hacking, an action that goes beyond journalism ethics.
  • The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, told reporters that Assange will be treated just like all other Australian nationals who break laws abroad – and the country will not intervene in his extradition to the US.
  • You can get the full breakdown of what happened throughout the day here and the read more about the news below.

Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, has been asked by reporters about Julian Assange.

She says that Assange, as an Australian citizen, will receive consular assistance, as any other citizen would if facing arrest in a foreign country and that consular representatives will meet with Assange today.

Payne was asked whether the Australian government would seek guarantees that Assange would not be extradited to a state where he might face the death penalty. She said that while Australia continues to vehemently oppose the death penalty, Assange’s potential extradition to the US is an issue between the UK and the US.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters that the country will not intervene on Assange’s behalf or block his extradition to the United States.

“When Australians travel overseas and find themselves in difficulty with the law, they face the judicial systems of those countries,” Morrison said. The WikiLeaks founder will receive the same assistance Australia offers all its citizens when they break laws abroad, he added.

Despite his assertions that he doesn’t know much about WikiLeaks, Trump reportedly brought it up 145 times in the last month of his campaign alone.

CSPAN has 44 examples pulled from debates and rallies.

Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, appeared on BBC this evening, to argue why her client’s arrest set a “dangerous precedent” that should concern free speech advocates.

The arrest has sparked alarm among some organizations who fear that the charges filed by the US Department of Justice could also be used against journalists.

The Columbia Journalism Review warned that “going forward, journalists will need to be vigilant” citing the “serious implications” of Assange’s arrest and the charges against him.

But some legal experts argued that the specificity of the charge is intended to not infringe on First Amendment Rights granted to journalists in the US.

“A lot of the broader legal and policy implications have been alleviated by how narrowly tailored this indictment is,” Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer in Washington who represents whistleblowers and journalists told Reuters.

Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law, agrees, explaining that the charge is more closely tied to hacking than to journalism.

Per Reuters:

Prosecutors will emphasize that cracking a password is far outside the realm of what respectable journalists do, Chesney at the University of Texas said.

‘All of this turns on the idea that Assange tries to hack a password,’ Chesney said. ‘That’s not journalism, that’s theft’”.

After Assange’s arrest many people were expecting news about his feline friend, who had been seen throughout the years posing for social media photos and peering out of windows of the Ecuadorian embassy.

But, turns out, Embassy Cat, had left long ago.

Embassy Cat, whose twitter bio (where he is followed by more than 31K people) says it lives with Assange and is interested in “counter-purrveillance” was reportedly ousted after Ecuadorian officials told Assange he’d have to provide and pay for its care.

Gabrielle Canon here taking over for Tom McCarthy.

Tulsi Gabbard weighed in this afternoon, on the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, tweeting that it sent a censorship signal out to political critics.

The US presidential candidate has defended Assange before. At a meet-and-greet in New Hampshire in February, she told a crowd that WikiLeaks “spurred some necessary change”.

For more on US politics, follow along with today’s updates here:

Updated

What we know so far

  • Julian Assange has been found guilty of breaching bail in 2012 after being arrested at the Ecuadorean embassy in London on Thursday. He is to be sentenced next month.
  • The United States has requested the extradition of Assange and charged him with involvement in computer hacking with Chelsea Manning. The Metropolitan police said the arrest was made on behalf of the US authorities.
  • In reaction to the news, Donald Trump said “I know nothing about WikiLeaks,” adding, “It’s not my thing.” In the final month of the 2016 election, Trump mentioned WikiLeaks 164 times.
  • Theresa May welcomed Assange’s arrest saying it showed “no one is above the law.”
  • Chelsea Manning’s legal team argued that the year-old indictment against Assange meant she had been improperly held in contempt of court for declining to testify before a grand jury in his case.
  • Police were videoed forcibly removing Assange from the embassy at around at around 10.50am. Police had been invited into the building by the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange had take refuge for almost seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.
  • The president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, said he secured guarantees from the UK that Assange would not face the death penalty or torture. Justifying the move of handing him over to the British police, Moreno said: “In a sovereign decision, Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life- protocols.”
  • Assange’s supporters have condemned the arrest. Rafael Correa, who was Ecuadorian president when Assange was granted asylum, accused his successor of treachery.

Updated

British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood speaks in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange outside Westminster magistrates court where he was appearing on Thursday.
British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood speaks in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange outside Westminster magistrates court where he was appearing on Thursday. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
A supporter of Julian Assange stands outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London on August 16, 2012.
A supporter of Julian Assange stands outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London on August 16, 2012. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
From 23 February, 2017, of Pamela Anderson arriving to visit Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
From 23 February, 2017, of Pamela Anderson arriving to visit Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
Photo from 14 November, 2016, of a cat that is believed to belong to Julian Assange.
From 14 November, 2016, of a cat that is believed to belong to Julian Assange. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Julian Assange: the wedge that created a divide among Trump loyalists

The charges that led to Julian Assange’s arrest have nothing to do with the 2016 presidential election or the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump’s Russian ties, but the extradition case and Assange’s possible arrival in the US will be electrified by all those unresolved issues.

“I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,” Donald Trump told reporters asking for a reaction to the arrest. That is not what he said on the campaign, when he frequently praised the organisation that Assange founded, and which arguably played an important role in getting Trump elected.

Assange’s role in 2016 cut like a meat cleaver through the administration, dividing Trump loyalists on the far right – who see him as a hero persecuted by the “deep state” – from the traditional conservatives who portray him as nothing less than a Kremlin accomplice.

Read further:

Ecuadorean minister lists nine reasons for withdrawal of Assange asylum

Dan Collyns reports on action in the Ecuadorean capital Quito:

In a presentation before Ecuador’s parliament, José Valencia, the foreign minister, set out nine reasons why Assange’s asylum had been withdrawn. The list ranged from meddling in Ecuador’s relations with other countries to having to “put up with his rudeness” for nearly seven years.

Starting at 11am local time, Valencia said Ecuador had been left with little choice but to end Assange’s stay in its London embassy following his “innumerable acts of interference in the politics of other states” which put at risk the country’s relations with them.

His second point focused on Assange’s behavior which wavered between riding a skateboard and playing football inside the small embassy to mistreating and threatening embassy staff and even coming to blows with security workers. Valencia said the whistleblower and his lawyers had made “insulting threats” against the country accusing its officials of being pressured by other countries.

He said Assange “permanently accused [embassy] staff of spying on and filming him” on behalf of the United States and instead of thanking Ecuador for nearly seven years of asylum he and his entourage launched “an avalanche of criticisms” against the Ecuadorean government. He referred also to the guest’s “hygienic” problems including one which was “very unpleasant” and “attributed to a digestive problem.”

But Assange’s deteriorating health was also major concern, the minister said, as he could not be properly treated in the embassy building. He added the fact the UK would not consider granting him safe conduct meant Ecuador faced the prospect of him staying “indefinitely in the diplomatic headquarters.”

The minister went on to say Ecuador could not extend asylum to a person fleeing justice and there was no extradition request for Assange when Ecuador ended his asylum. The UK had offered sufficient guarantees of due process to Assange, Valencia added, and that he would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty.

Finally, there were “multiple inconsistencies” in how Assange had been granted Ecuadorean citizenship and his stay had proved very costly, the minister said. Ecuador had spent more $5.8m on its guest’s security between 2012 and 2018 and nearly $400,000 on his medical costs, food and laundry, he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Ecuador’s interior minister, María Paula Romo, said authorities had identified “one of the key member of Wikileaks and people close to Mr Julian Assange” living in the country several years.

“We have sufficient evidence that they have been collaborating with destabilization attempts against the Ecuadorean government,” she said, noting that they had travelled with Ricardo Patiño, the former foreign minister who granted asylum to Assange in 2012, to Peru, Spain and Venezuela.

She added the identity and location of two Russian hackers who were also living in Ecuador would be delivered to the state prosecutor’s office.

Updated

Inside the webchats the US hopes will get Assange behind bars

Here’s more from our continuing coverage of the Assange arrest. Reporter Ed Pilkington takes us inside the webchats the US hopes will get Assange behind bars, writing in part:

The lengths to which the US government is prepared to go to nail Assange for the 2010 leaks is now becoming clear. Not only have extradition proceedings been instigated against Assange, but Manning herself is back behind bars, having refused to testify before the US grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. She was recently subjected to a spell in solitary confinement at William G Truesdale adult detention center, in Alexandria, Virginia.

As the case thickens, the spotlight is likely to fall increasingly on those internet communications between Ox and his source. In her statement to the court martial, Manning said: “At first our conversations were general in nature, but over time as our conversation progressed, I accessed this individual to be an important part of” WikiLeaks.

Read the full piece here:

In Comment, meanwhile, Simon Jenkins writes that Julian Assange’s cyber-sins seem quaint ten years later:

The eviction of Julian Assange from London’s Ecuadorian embassy is a strange irony. He saw himself as a warrior for truth across the boundless paradise of the web, where people could make their own rules. Now he finds himself badly in need of a secure border, a friendly judge and legal protections. [...]

Today, the experiences of Snowden and Assange speak volumes for the absence of rules to rein in internet anarchy. Vast state resources are devoted to the same tasks Assange was doing freelance. Compared with the alleged cyber-activities of the Chinese and Russian governments – and presumably our own – Assange was a kid in an attic. And as fast as national agencies struggle to secure their secrets, the dark riders of the web are overtaking them.

Read further:

Manning says Assange indictment undermines contempt holding against her

Chelsea Manning’s legal team has released a statement arguing that the unveiling of the year-old Assange indictment means she was improperly held in contempt of court because, as they argued at the time, “compelling Chelsea to testify would have been duplicative of evidence already in the possession of the grand jury.”

Lawyers for Manning plan to file a reply brief in an appeal asking the Fourth Circuit court of appeals to vacate a district court judge’s 8 March finding of civil contempt.

A statement released by Manning’s legal team said in part:

Ms. Manning, a staunch advocate for government transparency, asserted legal grounds for her refusal to participate in what she views as an assault on the free press. She remains in detention as a result of the contempt finding. The Assange indictment disclosed this morning strengthens their claims of grand jury abuse, say Manning’s attorneys.

“The indictment against Julian Assange unsealed today was obtained a year to the day before Chelsea appeared before the grand jury and refused to give testimony. The fact that this indictment has existed for over a year underscores what Chelsea’s legal team and Chelsea herself have been saying since she was first issued a subpoena to appear in front of a Federal Grand Jury in the Eastern District of Virginia — that compelling Chelsea to testify would have been duplicative of evidence already in the possession of the grand jury, and was not needed in order for US Attorneys to obtain an indictment of Mr. Assange. Grand Juries may not be used for the sole and dominant purpose of preparing for trial, including questioning potential trial witnesses. Since her testimony can no longer contribute to a grand jury investigation, Chelsea’s ongoing detention can no longer be seriously alleged to constitute an attempt to coerce her testimony. As continued detention would be purely punitive, we demand Chelsea be released.”

Here’s video of Trump in the Oval Office saying “I know nothing about Wikileaks, it’s not my thing.” He says the Assange case is in attorney general William Barr’s court.

“I know really nothing about him,” Trump says of Assange. “It’s not my deal in life.”

Here’s our earlier post on the topic including a mash-up video of the 100+ times Trump mentioned WikiLeaks on the campaign trail.

Updated

A plaintiff has requested that Sweden’s investigation into rape allegations against Assange should be resumed, Sweden’s prosecution service said today.

David Crouch in Sweden reports:

Deputy chief prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson will handle the request in Gothenburg.

“We will now examine the matter to determine how we proceed,” Persson said in a statement. “The preliminary investigation has therefore not been resumed yet and we do not know today whether it will happen. We cannot promise any timetable for when decisions will be made.”

The statute of limitations on the allegations run out in mid-August 2020.

Massimo Moratti, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe Research, has released a statement opposing the extradition of Assange to the United States.

“Amnesty International calls on the UK to refuse to extradite or send in any other manner Julian Assange to the USA where there is a very real risk that he could face human rights violations, including detention conditions that would violate the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and an unfair trial followed by possible execution, due to his work with WikiLeaks,” the statement says in part.

It continues:

“We are aware of allegations of rape and other sexual violence against Julian Assange - which should be properly investigated in a way that respects the rights of both the complainants and the accused - and he should be brought to justice if there is sufficient evidence against him.

“If Sweden decides to pursue an extradition of Mr Assange from the UK, there must be adequate assurances that he would not be extradited or otherwise sent to the USA.

“It remains unclear what formal process took place to allow the UK authorities to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy and detain Julian Assange, who had reportedly had his Ecuadorian citizenship suspended yesterday.

“We urge the UK authorities to comply with the assurances provided to Ecuador that he would not be sent anywhere he could face the death penalty, torture or other ill-treatment.”

The Washington-based legal analyst Susan Hennessey has drawn a comparison between Assange’s case and that of Lauri Love, who successfully fought extradition to the US on hacking charges:

Trump: WikiLeaks 'not my thing'

Donald Trump, who frequently praised WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign, whose son exchanged messages with the organization on Twitter, and whose associate Robert Stone communicated with Assange about material WikiLeaks planned to publish, has just told US reporters that WikiLeaks is “not my thing.”

“I know nothing about WikiLeaks,” Trump said in the Oval Office, according to a White House pool report. “It’s not my thing.”

With the United States having requested Assange’s extradition to face criminal charges, the WikiLeaks’ founder’s stock is currently low in Washington. But it wasn’t always so. Here’s a video of Trump on the stump going on and on (and on) about WikiLeaks:

WikiLeaks was so popular inside the Trump camp during the campaign that they worked under a poster of Assange...

...and Sean Hannity, Trump’s main cheerleader inside Fox News (and on the stump), offered to let Assange host his radio show.

Updated

Edward Snowden has tweeted again, describing the “weakness of the US charge” as shocking.

Can Julian Assange be charged with additional offences once he has been extradited to the United States? The Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent, Owen Bowcott, has this answer.

Normal practice is that anyone extradited can only be prosecuted in the country that sought them for the offences specified on the extradition indictment. That restriction is known as the Rule of Specialty. But there are two possible but difficult to use exemptions.

The first is that if it could be argued new information had come to light since his extradition, extra charges could conceivably be brought. “That almost never happens,” said Nick Vamos, the former head of extradition at the Crown Prosecution Service who is a partner at the London law firm peters and Peters. “American prosecutors would also have to seek the consent of the UK to bring in further charges.”

The second exemption covers what happens after someone has been extradited, convicted and then chooses to remain in the country. Essentially the extraditing country has to allow the prisoner time to run away after they have served their sentence.

“After a short period, however, usually two months,” Vamos explained, “anyone who remained in the same country would be deemed to be treated like a local citizen and could be charged for other offences.”

Neither conditions are likely to be met in Assange’s case. “The US has only put one charge on the indictment and it carries the maximum term of five years in prison. Assange has the opportunity to assent to it. It’s relatively light sentence by US standards,” said Vamos.

Updated

Here’s a bit more of the statement by Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, outside court today.

“Since 2010 we’ve warned that Julian Assange would face prosecution and extradition to the United States for his publishing activities with Wikileaks. Unfortunately today we’ve been proven right …

“We’ve today received a warrant and a provisional extradition request from the United States alleging that he has conspired with Chelsea Manning in relation to the materials published by Wikileaks in 2010. This sets a dangerous precedent for all media organisations and journalists in Europe and elsewhere around the world. This precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the United States for having published truthful information about the United States.”

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, lawyer for the Swedish woman whose case against Assange remains outstanding, has given the Guardian a longer statement:

My client and I have today received the news that Assange has been arrested in London. It did understandably come as a shock to my client that what we have been waiting and hoping for since 2012 has now finally happened. We are going to do everything we possibly can to get the Swedish police investigation re-opened so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape. No rape victim should have to wait nine years to see justice be served.

I have requested an urgent procedure [from the prosecutor to extradite Assange].

Assange’s lawyers have been speaking outside Westminster magistrates court.

Updated

The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has been commenting on today’s events in the House of Commons. “Ecuador’s actions recognise that the UK criminal justice system is one in which rights are protected and in which, contrary to what Mr Assange and his supporters claim, he and his legitimate interests will be protected,” he said.

He said that proceedings would now begin according to the court timetable. Full extradition papers would need to be received by a judge within 65 days, said Javid, and a full extradition request certified by the Home Office. He said he would not discuss the accusations against Assange.

I am pleased that the situation in the Ecuadorian embassy has finally been brought to an end. Mr Assange will now have the opportunity to contest the charge against him in open court and to have any extradition requests considered by the judiciary.

Javid reads a statement on Assange to the House of Commons.
Javid reads a statement on Assange to the House of Commons. Photograph: BBC

Diane Abbott responded to Javid’s statement by saying she was pleased to hear that Assange would now have access to medical care “because there have been worrying reports about his ill health”.

On this side of the house, we want to make the point that the reason we are debating Julian Assange this afternoon – even though the only charge he may face in this country is in relation to his bail hearings – is entirely to do with the whistleblowing activities of Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

It is this whistleblowing activity into illegal wars, mass murder, murder of civilians and corruption on a grand scale that has put Julian Assange in the crosshairs of the US administration. It is for this reason that they have once more issued an extradition warrant against Julian Assange.

She added: “Julian Assange is not being pursued to protect US national security, he is being pursued because he has exposed wrongdoing by US administrations and their military forces.”

Abbott responds to the Javid’s statement on Assange.
Abbott responds to the Javid’s statement on Assange. Photograph: BBC

Updated

Speaking outside Westminster magistrates court after this afternoon’s hearing, WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, said:

Anyone who wants the press to be free should consider the implications of this case. If they will extradite a journalist to the US then no journalist will be safe. This must stop. This must end.

Updated

This is from journalist David Crouch in Sweden:

One of the Swedish women who made the 2010 allegations against Assange, whose rape case was closed by Swedish prosecutors in 2017, told the Guardian she was opposed to his extradition to the US.

“I would be very surprised and sad if Julian is handed over to the US,” she said via email, asking for her name not to be used.

“For me this was never about anything else than his misconduct against me and other women, and his refusal to take responsibility for this. Too bad my case could never be investigated properly, but the arrest will not change this, the case cannot be opened. I am prepared to testify if the other case opens up again.”

Updated

More from Simon Murphy at Westminster magistrates court:

Here is a report from the Press Association –

The court heard police officers arrived at the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge at about 9.15am and were met by the ambassador. “He indicated he was preparing to serve upon Assange documentation revoking his asylum,” James Hines, representing the US government, said.

Officers tried to introduce themselves to him in order to execute the arrest warrant before he barged past them, attempting to return to his private room. He was eventually arrested at 10.15am. He resisted that arrest, claiming ‘this is unlawful’ and he had to be restrained.

Officers were struggling to handcuff him. They received assistance from other officers outside and he was handcuffed saying, ‘this is unlawful, I’m not leaving’. He was in fact lifted into the police van outside the embassy and taken to West End Central police station.

Assange’s lawyer, Liam Walker, said the defence of reasonable excuse partly relied on his claims the chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, who has previously dealt with the case, was biased against him.

He alleged her husband, Lord Arbuthnot, was directly impacted by the activities of WikiLeaks and Assange. But the judge told Walker it was unacceptable for him to air the claim in front of a packed press gallery.

This is grossly unfair and improper to do it just to ruin the reputation of a senior and able judge in front of the press.

He has chosen not to give evidence, he has chosen to make assertions about a senior judge not having the courage to place himself before the court for the purpose of cross-examination.

Those assertions made through counsel are not evidence as a matter of law. I find they are not capable of amounting to a reasonable excuse.

Updated

In a tweet, Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, said: “We strongly condemn the detention of Julian Assange and the violation of freedom of speech. Our solidarity with this brother who is persecuted by the US government for revealing its human rights violations, murders of civilians and diplomatic espionage.”

Updated

Guardian reporter Simon Murphy has been at Westminster magistrates court, where Julian Assange was found guilty of skipping bail after spending nearly seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Justice Michael Snow described Assange as a narcissist. Snow told the court: “His assertion that he has had not had a fair hearing is laughable. And his behaviour is that of a narcissist who cannot get past his own self-interest.”

Assange, who pleaded not guilty, has been remanded in custody due to face sentencing at Southwark crown court at a date yet to be set. He is due to appear in May in relation to the United States’ extradition charge.

Updated

UK did not lobby Ecuador, says PM's spokeswoman

At a press briefing, Downing Street said that the prime minister and the government were aware in advance that the Ecuadorians intended to revoke Julian Assange’s asylum status, allowing him to be arrested earlier today.

A number 10 spokeswoman said: “There has been a dialogue with [the] Ecuadorian government from the onset. The decision to revoke asylum was one for them entirely. They have set that out.”

When pressed whether the UK had lobbied Ecuador, she repeated that the decision was “taken entirely by them”.

Downing Street did not respond directly when asked if Assange’s arrest raised any questions for freedom of speech. The spokesman said the WikiLeaks founder would now be subject to “an ongoing legal process, and we need to let that run its course”.

Updated

Speaking at a press conference in the Ecuadorian capital Quito just after 7am local time, the country’s interior minister María Paula Romo said a person with links to WikiLeaks has been detained in the country.

She alleged the person had worked alongside Ricardo Patiño, the former foreign minister, in attempts to “destabilise” the government. Patiño granted Assange asylum in 2012 and was a close confidante of ex-president Rafael Correa.

She also said that Assange had smeared faeces on the walls of the embassy in London.

In the same press conference, the country’s foreign minister José Valencia said Assange’s Ecuadorean citizenship had been suspended due to the “innumerable problems, breaches of international accords” and his “interference in external matters”.

Updated

What we know so far

  • Julian Assange has been found guilty of breaching bail in 2012 after being arrested at the Ecuadorean embassy in London on Thursday. Judge Michael Snow said he will be sentenced next month at Southwark Crown Court. He said Assange had shown the “behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest”.
  • The United States has requested the extradition of Assange and charged him with involvement in computer hacking with Chelsea Manning. The Metropolitan police said the arrest was made on behalf of the US authorities.
  • The US justice department said Assange faces up to five years in jail if convicted. It said extradition request is being handled by its office of international affairs.
  • Theresa May welcomed Assange’s arrest saying it showed “no one is above the law.” She told MPs Assange was arrested for breach of bail after nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy and in relation to an extradition request from the United States’ authorities.
  • Police were videoed forcibly removing Assange from the embassy at around at around 10.50am. Police had been invited into the building by the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange had take refuge for almost seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.
  • The president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, said he secured guarantees from the UK that Assange would not face the death penalty or torture. Justifying the move of handing him over to the British police, Moreno said: “In a sovereign decision, Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life- protocols.”
  • Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer for one of the two women who accused Assange, welcomed the arrest. The Swedish prosecution authority is expected to issue a statement later.
  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow hoped that Assange’s rights would not be violated. A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry accused the UK of strangling freedom.
  • The arrest was welcomed by the UK government. The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, thanked Ecuador, saying: “Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the law. He has hidden from the truth for years.” The home secretary, Sajid Javid, is due to update parliament later on Thursday.
  • Assange’s supporters have condemned the arrest. Rafael Correa, who was Ecuadorian president when Assange was granted asylum, accused his successor of treachery.

The judge said the assertion that Assange had not had a fair hearing earlier was “laughable”, PA reports.

Judge Michael Snow said Assange will face another hearing by video link on 2 May.

Updated

A crown court will decide what sentence Assange will face for skipping bail.

He faces up to 12 months in jail, according to PA.

Updated

Assange found guilty of failing to surrender

Updated

The book Assange was pictured holding during his removal from the embassy this morning – and later read in the dock at Westminster Magistrates Court – was Gore Vidal: History of The National Security State.

It’s a strange little book – not written by Vidal as much of the media have reported – but a series of interviews with Vidal conducted over two years by Paul Jay, editor of non-profit news organisation The Real News Network, who self-published the book on Amazon.

It sees Vidal, then in his eighties and keeping a beady eye on the US from his Italian villa, in a ponderous mood as he considers his imminent return stateside. (Hewould die in the Hollywood Hills in 2012 at the age of 86). Considering his future, he tells Jay: “I’m a battleship ... I’m meant for war. But I don’t know if I can do it any more.”

Vidal was a vocal critic of American society and politics, particularly the monopoly of wealth poured into its military and its history of foreign policy. Jay describes Vidal as “a genuine class traitor. [He] could have lived an easier and more celebrated life if he just kept his mouth shut.”

In conversation with Jay, Vidal pulls apart US foreign policy, vote-rigging and corruption in the media.

“I think everybody should take a sober look at the world about us, remember that practically everything that you’re told about other countries is untrue, what we’re told about ourselves and our great strength and how much loved we are – forget it. Our strength is there, but it’s the kind of strength that blows off your hand while you hold up the grenade; it’s a suicidal strength as well as a murderous one.”

Updated

Assange pleads not guilty

The BBC’s Daniel Sandford is tweeting updates from Westminster magistrates court.

Assange is sitting in the dock at Westminster magistrates court reading the Gore Vidal book on the security state (see earlier) that he was seen clutching when he was arrested.

Updated

The indictment against Assange has now been unsealed by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, just across the Potomac river from Washington DC.

It alleges Assange was involved in a computer hacking conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former army intelligence analyst, to crack a defence department password. Cracking that password allowed Manning to log on to a secret government computer network under another username and so cover her tracks when she leaked a vast trove of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks.

Assange is accused of “actively encouraging” Manning to provide more information. According to the indictment, when Manning told him that she had sent WikiLeaks all she had, Assange replied: “Curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”

This has been in the works for a few months at least. The eastern Virginia prosecutors, who are likely to be taking the lead because theirs is the nearest federal court to the Pentagon, let slip that Assange had had been criminally charged under seal in November, when they wrote his name on the wrong court docket.

Lawyer Susan Hennessey says the US charges present the UK authorities with an interesting dilemma.

Updated

WikiLeaks says that its editor, Kristinn Hrafnsson, and Assange’s UK lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, will be making a statement outside Westminster magistrates court after Assange’s hearing.

Updated

Some thoughts and commentary on those US charges against Assange.

US justice department says Assange faces five years in jail

The US justice department has confirmed that it issued an extradition request for Assange “in connection with a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified US government computer”.

In a statement, it cited court documents unsealed today that show the charge relates to “Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”.

It claims Assange faces only five years in jail if convicted.

It says:

The indictment alleges that in March 2010 Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the US Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on US Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a US government network used for classified documents and communications. Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks. Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures.

During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Manning’s transmission of classified records to Assange. The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that “after this upload, that’s all I really have got left”. To which Assange replied, “curious eyes never run dry in my experience”.

Assange is charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the US sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

The extradition will be handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

Updated

Assange could be heard urging the UK to resist the Trump administration as he was being led away, according to video from Sky News which enhanced audio on the recording.

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer who represents one of Assange’s accusers in Sweden, has submitted a request to Sweden’s prosecutor’s office for the preliminary investigation into the case to be resumed, the Swedish news site Expressen confirms.

Updated

Journalist and ex-lawyer Glenn Greenwald, who worked at the Guardian at the time of the Edward Snowden leaks, said US attempts to extradite Assange were “extremely chilling”.

Speaking to Democracy Now he said: “The idea that the US government can just extend its reach to any news outlet anywhere in the world and criminalise publication of documents … is extremely chilling.”

Updated

Theresa May has given a statement about Assange. Speaking to the Commons before updating MPs on the Brexit delay, she said:

I am sure that the whole house will welcome the news this morning that the Metropolitan police have arrested Julian Assange – arrested for breach of bail after nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy. He has also been arrested in relation to an extradition request from the United States’ authorities. This is now a legal matter before the courts. The home secretary will make a statement on this later, but I would like to thank the Metropolitan police for carrying out their duties with great professionalism and to welcome the cooperation of the Ecuadorian government in bringing this matter to a resolution. This goes to show that, in the United Kingdom, no one is above the law.

Prime minister Theresa May speaks in the House of Commons.
Prime minister Theresa May speaks in the House of Commons. Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Updated

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a police van after he was arrested by British police outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a police van after he was arrested by British police outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Assange gave photographers a thumbs up as he was driven away from the embassy in a police van.

Updated

A scuffle broke out outside the Ecuadorian embassy between embassy security and a reporter from Chile’s el Ciudadano newspaper who tried to challenge the ambassador as he was taken into a car.

Patricio Mary, the reporter, said he had wanted to ask ambassador Jaime Martín about promises he had made to respect Assange’s asylum.

“Ecuadorian police pushed me and tried to fight with me,” he said. “We started shouting traitor and liar because when I interviewed him two days ago he told me there was no change with the position of Julian Assange and that the government of Lenín Moreno will respect international law.”

He said the Ecuadorians had breached their own sovereignty by inviting British police into their embassy. It was symbolic of the way the Ecuadorian government had treated journalists in their own country, where Moreno had shut down opposing newspapers and betrayed an incipient socialist revolution, he said.

Earlier, an Assange supporter – a woman who declined to give her name – was overheard saying that she thought the embassy was being watched last night and that police had chosen to swoop when his supporters were not around.

She said she would not comment to the Guardian, which she accused of vilifying Assange. Nevertheless, she added: “Do you think this means just one man being arrested? This is your press freedom on the line. But I guess you don’t care about that; you are already bought and paid for.”

Two Californians, Carol and David Hatcher, who are holidaying close to the embassy said they had come to visit Assange’s supporters. “I don’t have a view about what’s happening, I’m not making any judgments about people,” Carol Hatcher said.

Members of the television media prepare to broadcast outside the Ecuadorian after British police arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Members of the television media prepare to broadcast outside the Ecuadorian after British police arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The Guardian’s former Washington office chief, Ewen MacAskill, has some background.

The Home Office has confirmed the US request for Assange’s extradition is for an alleged “computer-related offence”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Julian Assange was arrested in relation to a provisional extradition request from the United States of America.

“He is accused in the United States of America [on] computer-related offences.”

Updated

Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the Spanish anti-austerity Podemos party, has called for Assange to be released.

“Exploitation, injustice and the privileges of the powerful are only possible because they are built on lies,” he tweeted. “That’s why if there’s something that power fears – in Spain and elsewhere in the world – it’s the truth. Free Julian Assange.”

Two members of Podemos met Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2016. A spokesman for the party told the Guardian it had been an informal visit, during which they had discussed “protecting whistleblowers, freedom of expression and information in Europe, and democracy on the internet”.

The former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after leading the region’s failed bid to secede from Spain in autumn 2017, also offered Assange his support.

“I am deeply shocked by the arrest of Julian Assange in London,” he tweeted. “Human rights, and especially freedom of expression, are under attack once again in Europe.”

Puigdemont offered Assange “all my support and solidarity” and called on the EU to protect “fundamental rights”.

Assange’s pronouncements on the Catalan independence crisis annoyed the then Spanish government, which conveyed its displeasure to the authorities in Quito.

In November 2017, Assange hosted two supporters of the Catalan independence movement.

The WikiLeaks founder said he supported the right to “self-determination” and was a vocal critic of the Spanish government’s handling of the independence issue.

He described the Catalan independence movement as “the re-definition of the relationship between people and state”, and “the most disciplined Gandhian project since Gandhi”.

Updated

The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has issued a longer statement on Assange’s arrest.

He said:

What we’ve shown today is that no one is above the law. Julian Assange is no hero. He has hidden from the truth for years and years and it is right that his future should be decided in the British judicial system. What’s happened today is the result of years of careful diplomacy by the Foreign Office and I commend particularly our ambassador in Ecuador and Sir Alan Duncan and his team here in London for their work. But it is also a very courageous decision from President Moreno in Ecuador to resolve this situation that has been going on for nearly seven years. I mean, it’s not so much Julian Assange being held hostage in the Ecuadorian embassy, it’s actually Julian Assange holding the Ecuadorian embassy hostage in a situation that was absolutely intolerable for them. So this will now be decided properly, independently by the British legal system, respected throughout the world for its independence and integrity and that is the right outcome.

We have been talking to Ecuador for a very long time about how to resolve this situation. We are a law-abiding country and we will always uphold the law so we have to follow all the international rules in a situation like this. But there was a change of leadership in Ecuador. President Moreno took a courageous decision, which has meant we were able to resolve the situation today. We’re not making any judgment about Julian Assange’s innocence or guilt, that is for the courts to decide. But what is not acceptable is for someone to escape facing justice and he has tried to do that for a very long time and that is why he is no hero.

Updated

The US embassy in London has this guide to extradition between the two countries, meant to dispel the controversy past attempts have led to.

Here's what we know so far

  • The United States has requested the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, after he was arrested at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. The Metropolitan police said the arrest was made on behalf of the US authorities.
  • Police were videoed forcibly removing Assange from the embassy at around at around 10.50am. Police had been invited into the building by the Ecuadorian embassy, where Assange had take refuge for almost seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.
  • Assange is due to appear at Westminster magistrates court later on Thursday. He was being held on a warrant issued by the court when he skipped bail in 2012.
  • The president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, said he secured guarantees from the UK that Assange would not face the death penalty or torture. Justifying the move of handing him over to the British police, Moreno said: “In a sovereign decision, Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life- protocols.”
  • Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer for one of the two women who accused Assange, welcomed the arrest. The Swedish prosecution authority is expected to issue a statement later.
  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow hoped that Assange’s rights would not be violated. A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry accused the UK of strangling freedom.
  • The arrest was welcomed by the UK government. The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, thanked Ecuador, saying: “Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the law. He has hidden from the truth for years.” The home secretary, Sajid Javid, is due to update parliament later on Thursday.
  • Assange’s supporters have condemned the arrest. Rafael Correa, who was Ecuadorian president when Assange was granted asylum, accused his successor of treachery.

Updated

Swedish Chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren leaves the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, in November 2016.
Swedish Chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren leaves the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, in November 2016. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/EPA

Sweden’s chief prosecutor, Ingrid Isgren, has issued this statement: “This is news to us too, so we have not been able to take a position on the information that is now available. We also do not know why he is under arrest. We are following the developments.”

A preliminary investigation can be resumed as long as the suspected crime is not subject to a statute of limitation, the prosecutor added. In this case, the suspected crime of rape would be subject to a statute of limitation in mid-August 2020.

The prosecutor declined to make any further comments.

Updated

Rafael Correa, who was Ecuadorian president when Assange was granted asylum, has condemned his successor’s decision.

He tweeted that Lenin Moreno was the “greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history”.

Updated

Extradition request from US confirmed

Scotland Yard has confirmed that Assange was arrested on behalf of the US after receiving a request for his extradition.

In a statement it said:

Julian Assange, 47, (03.07.71) has today, Thursday 11 April, been further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities, at 10:53hrs after his arrival at a central London police station. This is an extradition warrant under Section 73 of the Extradition Act. He will appear in custody at Westminster magistrates court as soon as possible.

Updated

The dramatic footage of a white-bearded Julian Assange being carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London by British police officers was captured by a camera operator from the news agency Ruptly, a subsidiary of the Russian government-backed news service RT.

The Berlin-based agency, which has carved out a niche in live-streaming events that others ignore, such as protests and public disorder, has maintained a 24-hour watch on the embassy since 5 April according to Laura Lucchini, the head of Ruptly’s newsroom.

Embarrassingly, British television stations are now having to rely on footage from a Russian government-backed news organisation to cover an event which took place on their own backyard in central London.

Multiple sources at UK broadcasters suggested there had been a pool agreement – where the BBC, ITN and Sky News take turns to provide a camera outside the embassy and agree to share any footage – from 5 April onwards. However, this was abandoned at the weekend when news editors concluded Assange would not be leaving imminently, meaning British broadcasters failed to capture the key moment.

RT, previously known as Russia Today, has long been supportive of Assange and his associated causes, prompting suggestions that the news organisation could have received a tip about the impending arrest which enabled it to get the footage.

However, employees at Ruptly insist there is a more simple explanation: they were more committed to having a cameraman outside the building at all times than other broadcasters.

They now have a global scoop, with the potential to make substantial sums from licensing the footage around the world.

In the past, British police forces have been willing to quietly tip off the media about high-profile police raids or arrests – but this has changed followed the Cliff Richard case, which saw the BBC fly a helicopter over the singer’s house only for the investigation to end with no charges and an expensive lawsuit.

Updated

Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell Photograph: Anna Gordon/The Guardian

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused Ecuador of failing to protect Assange.

“The decision of the Ecuadorean government to hand over Assange to the UK police is a clear violation of his Ecuadorean citizenship and asylum rights.

“Assange’s arrest will put him at risk of extradition to the US, where he will very likely face charges that could see him jailed for 30 or more years. A secret grand jury has been convened to prepare an indictment against Assange and key Trump officials have said that prosecuting Assange is a priority.

“Assange did not leak anything. He published the leaks of Chelsea Manning, as did the Guardian and New York Times. Why is he being signalled out?

“Assange published evidence of American war crimes. He’s a hero, not a criminal.

“The British government should refuse to do the bidding of the Trump administration. It should give public assurances that Assange will not be handed over the US authorities. His extradition to the US is not in the public interest.”

Updated

Here is video of Westminster magistrates court where Assange is due to appear later today. He is not expected until around 2pm.

Updated

Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC at Westminster magistrates court when Assange appealed for bail in 2010
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC at Westminster magistrates court when Assange appealed for bail in 2010 Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The barrister Geoffrey Robertson, one of Assange’s many lawyers, has dismissed the arrest as a “disgrace”.

Speaking to BBC News he said:

It is breach of international law. Ecuador will be blackballed from international society for doing this. You can’t give someone asylum for seven years and then hand them over, which is what Ecuador has done.

It is a cruel and astounding breach of faith on the part of the Ecuadorian government. They are keen to get loans from the United States and they have done the United States’ bidding.

What happens to Mr Assange? He’ll be held. He can apply for bail, but he will be accused of breaching his bail which is an offence of a lower order usually dealt with by a fine or by imprisonment for a few weeks.

That is not what he is worried about. In a way he is better off in prison than in the embassy where he has been denied medical treatment.

America is hellbent on putting him in prison for a very long time to deter those who publish material about the behaviour of its armed forces. America will assure the British government that he won’t face the death penalty.

The charges they want to extradite him on carry very long years in prison. Chelsea Manning was given 35 years in prison. The charges for Julian Assange add up to 45 years. That’s the not the death penalty, but it may in effect be the death penalty for someone of Mr Assange’s age and health problems.

I imagine the US will apply to extradite him because Mike Pompeo and John Bolton has said so. There will then be hearings in the British courts and no doubt on appeal, so it could take a couple of years. His case will be that America is behaving exorbitantly claiming to extradite a publisher who has published information of public importance.

Robertson added that the case threatens the freedom of the press.

If they get away with extraditing Julian Assange they could extradite Alan Rusbridger, and the editors and journalists from the Guardian, and put them inside in America for a very long time.

America has the first amendment which protects the New York Times, but the Trump administration will argue ... that the first amendment doesn’t apply to British or Australian journalists. This is massive threat to freedom of speech.

Updated

The actor Pamela Anderson, who has visited Assange at the embassy, has condemned the arrest.

Pamela Anderson seen arriving at the Ecuadorian Embassy in May 2017.
Pamela Anderson seen arriving at the Ecuadorian Embassy in May 2017 Photograph: Ricky Vigil M/GC Images

Updated

The Swedish Prosecution Authority said it will issue a statement on Julian Assange’s arrest later today.

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, lawyer for one of the two women who accused Assange in 2010, told Swedish media:

My client and I have just received the news that Assange has been arrested. That’s what we have been waiting and hoping for for almost seven years has now happened as clearly a shock to my client. We will do everything we can to ensure that the prosecutors resume the Swedish preliminary investigation so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape.

When Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny dropped the Swedish investigation into the allegations in May 2017, she stressed that the investigation could be reopened if Assange returned to Sweden before the statute of limitations on the rape allegation against him ends in August 2020.

Updated

Assange's lawyer claims arrest made in relation to US extradition request

Jen Robinson, one of Assange’s legal team, claims the arrest was made in relation to a US extradition request.

Home secretary Sajid Javid is due to make a statement to the Commons at around 2.15pm.

Outside the Ecuadorian embassy, a group of reporters were interviewing a sole Assange supporter wearing a placard reading “free Julian Assange” around his neck.

Kyle Farren, 22, from Knightsbridge, said:

I think I might have arrived just as he was taken. He was taken at around 10.30am.

When I arrived there was three vans all parked out here and there was a semicircle of police around the entrance, and a policewoman asked me to move on.

When I arrived there was just one journalist [here], from Ruptly.

Updated

The book Assange was holding when he was arrested appears to be Gore Vidal’s History of the National Security State.

Updated

AFP reports that a lawyer for one of Assange’s accusers in Sweden has urged prosecutors to reopen the case.

Edward Snowden, the computer analyst who provided the Guardian with secret NSA documents leading to revelations about US surveillance on phone and internet communications, has expressed his backing for Assange.

The reference to the UN may refer to a UN panel on arbitrary detention.

WikiLeaks has accused “powerful actors”, including the CIA, of a “sophisticated” effort to dehumanise Julian Assange.

Updated

My colleague Jessica Elgot wants to know what book or magazine Assange was holding. Any answers?

Sources told the Press Association that police were invited into the embassy and made the arrest shortly after 10am.

“It was a planned operation,” said the source.

A police van is seen outside the Ecuadorian embassy after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British police in London, Britain, April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
A police van is seen outside the Ecuadorian embassy after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Writer James Ball, who has previously worked with WikiLeaks, points out that Ecuador’s statement does not rule out Assange being extradited to the US.

Updated

Russia criticises the arrest

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, criticised the arrest as “the hand of ‘democracy’ squeezing the throat of freedom”.

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt also thanked Ecuador and insisted that Assange was “no hero”.

Updated

RT has more video footage of the moment Assange was arrested:

Updated

Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan has issued this statement:

It is absolutely right that Assange will face justice in the proper way in the UK. It is for the courts to decide what happens next.

We are very grateful to the government of Ecuador under President Moreno for the action they have taken.

Today’s events follow extensive dialogue between our two countries. I look forward to a strong bilateral relationship between the UK and Ecuador in the years ahead.”

Updated

Ecuador’s president, Lenin Moreno, has issued a video explaining his decision to withdraw Julian Assange’s asylum status after seven years. Moreno complained about Assange’s behaviour and accused him of being involved in “interfering in internal affairs of other states” while in the embassy.

He said the asylum of Assange “is unsustainable and no longer viable” because he had repeatedly violated “clear cut provisions of the conventions of diplomatic asylum”, citing the recent leak of Vatican documents by Wikileaks.

The statement continued:

The patience of Ecuador has reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange. He installed electronic and distortion equipment not allowed. He blocked the security cameras of the Ecuadorian mission in London. He has confronted and mistreated guards. He had accessed the security files of our embassy without permission. He claimed to be isolated and rejected the internet connection offered by the embassy, and yet he had a mobile phone with which he communicated with the outside world.

While Ecuador upheld the generous conditions of his asylum, Mr Assange legally challenged in three difference instances the legality of the protocol. In all cases, the relevant judicial authorities have validated Ecuador’s position.

In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty. The British government has confirmed it in writing, in accordance with its own rules.

Finally, two days ago, WikiLeaks, Mr Assange’s allied organisation, threatened the government of Ecuador. My government has nothing to fear and does not act under threats. Ecuador is guided by the principles of law, complies with international law and protects the interests of Ecuadorians.

Updated

Video of Assange's arrest

Here’s video of Assange being arrested

Updated

Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy following the withdrawal of asylum by the Ecuadorian government, Scotland Yard says.

Home secretary Sajid Javid thanked Ecuador for its cooperation.

Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno explained the decision on Twitter. He said: “In a sovereign decision Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols.”

Wikileaks tweeted:

Updated

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