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posted by FatPhil on Thursday April 11 2019, @01:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the shoulda-taken-the-tea-chest-option-years-back dept.

Breaking: Met police confirm that Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations to international conventions.

But WikiLeaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".

[...] Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.

After his arrest for failing to surrender to the court, police said he had been further arrested on behalf of US authorities under an extradition warrant.

He doesn't look happy, to say the least.

Update: As this is a breaking story, more information is coming out regularly - one source that updates their reports frequently is Zero Hedge - thanks boru!

Previously: New Analysis of Swedish Police Report Confirms Julian Assange's Version in Sweden's Case
Ecuador Reportedly Almost Ready to Hand Julian Assange Over to UK Authorities
UK Said Assange Would Not be Extradited If He Leaves Embassy Refuge
Inadvertent Court Filing Suggests that the U.S. DoJ is Preparing to Indict Julian Assange
U.S. Ramping Up Probe Against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Says
Ecuador Denies That Julian Assange Will be Evicted From Embassy in London


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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday April 11 2019, @01:56PM (7 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday April 11 2019, @01:56PM (#827926) Homepage
    "British government had confirmed in writing that Mr Assange "would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty"."

    So not the US, then.

    Clearly to another country which hasn't made such a promise, and then they can send him to the country which tortures and kills.
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:08PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:08PM (#827938) Journal

    Oh but they won't torture or use the death penalty on him, so that's all right then.
    Proof? How many British extraditions occurred last year, despite Britain being fully aware that the U.S. has persons tortured or facing the death penalty? One answer from the horse's mouth. [usembassy.gov]

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:14PM (#827943)

    Or they extradite him on non death penalty charges, and they get added once he is in the US.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by zocalo on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:18PM (1 child)

    by zocalo (302) on Thursday April 11 2019, @02:18PM (#827946)
    There's no legal issue with extraditing someone to a country with the death penalty *provided* that they will not be sentenced to death, which could potentially mean a commitment to commute a death sentence to life in prison if the extradition request were to be made in connection where such a penalty was possible. Since the US' extradition request makes no mention of such a crime - and in fact states the maximum sentence for the charges is five years in jail - then that's not a valid reason to block it, although that might change if they start adding to the charge sheet. A country could, theoretically, ignore that once they have their suspect, but by doing so they'd basically be providing solid ground for a defence lawyer to get any future extradition requests to rejected. Personal opinions aside, I doubt very much the DoJ will make that kind of policy decision just for someone like Assange.
    --
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    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @03:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @03:35PM (#828020)

      What the US wants, the US gets eventually. Your laws be damned, remember the Austro-Bolivian affair.
      The only countries with a hope of frustrating the US are China and Russia.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:04PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:04PM (#828060)

    "would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty"

    The US doesn't torture* anyone.






    * just ask them

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:18PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:18PM (#828076)

      Then what do you call Trump's Press Briefings?

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @04:24PM (#828084)

        I call them fake news.