Assange associate Ola Bini has been arrested in Ecuador for alleged involvement in hacking government computer systems. A large quantity of electronic equipment and credit cards were allegedly found in his suitcase and during a raid of his home.
Julian Assange's arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was carried out in a specific way to prevent him from pressing a mysterious panic button he said could bring dire consequences for Ecuador, its foreign minister said.
[...] It is not clear exactly what form the "panic button" took: whether it was a physical device or a metaphor for some other easily activated insurance measure. It is also unclear what leverage Assange thought he had over Ecuador.
Assange's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on the nature of the button and whether it existed. According to Valencia, though, it was serious enough for Ecuador to warn British authorities and carry out the raid in such a way that Assange was not able to get back into his room after learning of his imminent arrest.
Julian Assange must face Swedish justice first - MPs and peers
More than 70 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the home secretary to ensure Julian Assange faces authorities in Sweden if they want his extradition.
[...] In their letter to Sajid Javid, 70 parliamentarians - chiefly Labour MPs and peers - urged him to "stand with the victims of sexual violence" and ensure the rape claim against the Wikileaks founder could be "properly investigated". "We do not presume guilt, of course, but we believe due process should be followed and the complainant should see justice be done," the letter said. Labour's Stella Creasy tweeted a copy of the letter sent to Mr Javid. The same letter was also sent to shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.
See also: The U.S. Government's Indictment of Julian Assange Poses Grave Threats to Press Freedom
Sweden Considers Request to Reopen Rape Investigation of Julian Assange
Four theories about Julian Assange's cat (also at NPR)
Previously: Wikileaks Co-Founder Julian Assange Arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday April 14 2019, @12:05AM (1 child)
Political figure. Fair game.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 14 2019, @06:52PM
Wikileaks also exposed information on thousands of private individuals who had helped american diplomats in authoritarian countries. Translators, drivers, etc - exposing them and their families to violent retaliation. In fact, one of assange's friends took a document dump and handed it over to the dictator running Belarus months before wikileaks officially released it, [tabletmag.com] helping the dictator to crack down on dissidents.
Wikileaks was a great idea. The mistake was letting a narcissistic sociopath like assange run it, because people like that are only ever about themselves - principles only matter as long as they further cause of their self-aggrandizement. The end result is going to be the worst possible outcome - crackdowns on the press and a discrediting of wikileaks's official goals.
In particular, assange worked hard to get trump elected. And now trump has literally declared that the free press is the enemy of the people. Trump's first concrete action in his campaign to bring the press to heel is to go after wikileaks. Trump's just getting warmed up, going after the most vulnerable first. There is a lot of karmic irony that assange is first to the guillotine that he built himself, he literally got what he wished for. But in the long run we are all going to pay for his demagoguery and narcissism.