Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested In London

[MrMetroid]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11937110

The founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by police in London.



The 39-year-old Australian, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, denies allegations he sexually assaulted two women in Sweden.



Mr Assange is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later.



A Wikileaks spokesman said Mr Assange's arrest was an attack on media freedom but it would not stop the release of more secret files.



Kristinn Hrafnsson told Reuters on Tuesday: Wikileaks is operational. We are continuing on the same track as laid out before.



Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today and in the coming days.



Secret locations



He said Wikileaks was being operated by a group in London and other secret locations.



Scotland Yard said Mr Assange was arrested by appointment at a London police station at 0930 GMT.



Mr Assange is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of rape, one of unlawful coercion and two counts of sexual molestation, alleged to have been committed in August 2010.



If the district judge rules the arrest warrant is legally correct, he could be extradited to Sweden.



But the process could take months.



Police contacted his lawyer, Mark Stephens, on Monday night after receiving a European arrest warrant from the Swedish authorities.



An earlier warrant, issued last month, had not been filled in correctly.



Mr Stephens said his client was keen to learn more about the allegations and anxious to clear his name.



He said: It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law.



Julian Assange has been the one in hot pursuit to vindicate himself to clear his good name.



Mr Stephens said Mr Assange had been trying to meet the Swedish prosecutor in various ways to find out the details about the allegations he faces.



Mr Assange has come in for criticism in the last week for the revelations made on Wikileaks.

Continue reading the main story

Game of cat-and-mouse



* 28 Nov: First secret US diplomatic cables released on Wikileaks website

* 29 Nov: US brands cable leaks an attack on the international community and says criminal investigation ongoing

* 29 Nov: Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin calls for Mr Assange to be pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders

* 3 Dec: Wikileaks forced to change web address after coming under cyber attack

* 3 Dec: Sweden issues new European arrest warrant for Mr Assange over sex crime allegations but wording is wrong

* 6 Dec: Sweden issues new warrant and passes it to police in UK

* 7 Dec: Mr Assange is arrested in London after voluntarily walking into a police station



On Monday, Foreign Secretary William Hague criticised the website for publishing details of sensitive sites, including some in the UK, saying they could be targeted by terrorists.



Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Mr Assange is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands.



Wikileaks was forced to switch to a Swiss host server after several US internet service providers refused to handle it.



It has also come under cyber attack and several companies, including PayPal and Amazon, have refused to supply it.



Mr Assange is expected to appear before a district judge at City of Westminster magistrates court before 1230 GMT, unless special permission is given for a later hearing.



City of Westminster deals with most extradition cases but there are huge differences in the time it takes.



Extradition can be extremely swift if the accused waives his legal rights.



But some cases, such as the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States, have been going on for years because of legal challenges.



A European arrest warrant is designed to speed up the process but there can be delays.



Last week a district judge finally agreed to extradite British businessman Ian Griffin to France 18 months after he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in a Paris hotel.



Mr Assange is an Australian citizen and his supporters have written an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard asking her to protect him.



One of the signatories, prominent barrister, Julian Burnside QC said: First and foremost Julian Assange is an Australian citizen who is entitled to the protection of his country and does not deserve to be betrayed by his country.



Julia Gillard has been making it virtually impossible for Assange to return to Australia where he is entitled to be. And she has even threatened to cancel his passport. That is an outrageous stance to take.

 

[Australia]

Bogus charges. The US thinks arresting Julian will stop the leaks, they are wrong, if Osama got arrested would it stop the terror attacks? No.



Besides, if he is killed or arrested for many years, he is releasing highly classified information, you're all governments.

 

[Ignitusion]

This has nothing to do with the US.

If you actually read the article, it says that their was a European arrest warrant. And that was arrested in london.

 

[Evil Eye]

See how this wouldn't have gotten any attention whatsoever if it weren't for the fact that the guy started a controversial site?

 

[Australia]

This has nothing to do with the US.

If you actually read the article, it says that their was a European arrest warrant. And that was arrested in london.

Pressure from the US government would have got him arrested, like their pressure about everything in the past few days has lead up to these events, they are running scared and doing anything in their power to stop WikiLeaks, but it's just not working.

 

[Temerit]

This is pathetic and stupid. If there's anything that might get me into believing in some sort of new world order type things it would be something like this. Its pathetic. I fully support Wikileaks.