In a dramatic move, police entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London Thursday morning and arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been in the embassy since 2012, when he was granted asylum as part of a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was facing allegations of sexual assault. As per the latest reports, he was “further arrested” on his arrival at a London police station on behalf of United States authorities, who have issued an extradition warrant.
In a stunning chain of events, Ecuador withdrew his asylum and the ambassador ‘invited’ authorities into the embassy, to arrest Assange. Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno said in a video statement Thursday that his country withdrew Assange’s asylum due to his “discourteous and aggressive behaviour,” “the hostile and threatening declarations of his allied organisation against Ecuador” and “the transgression of international treaties.” Assange “violated the norm of not intervening in internal affairs of other states,” Moreno said.