The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with the British police dragging him out of the Ecuador embassy in London after his seven-year asylum was revoked paves the way for his extradition to the US.
The controversial whistle-blower who was instrumental for one of the biggest-ever leaks of classified information had sought asylum in the Ecuador embassy to stave off extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court. The UK will decide whether or not to extradite Assange, in response to allegations by the Department for Justice that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.
He faces up to five years in US prison if convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said they would be fighting the extradition request. She said it set a “dangerous precedent” where any journalist could face US charges for “publishing truthful information about the United States.LIA QUENZLER,
Assange set up Wikileaks in 2006 with the aim of obtaining and publishing confidential documents and images. The organisation hit the headlines four years later when it released footage of US soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
Former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000 confidential documents, videos and diplomatic cables to the anti-secrecy website. Manning was found guilty by a court martial in 2013 of charges including espionage. However, her jail sentence was later commuted.
Manning downloaded four databases from US departments and agencies between January and May 2010. This information, much of which was classified, was provided to Wikileaks. The US Justice Department described it as “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”.