Wikileaks founder has been charged with conspiracy in trying to access classified US gov't computer in 2010.
British police dragged Julian Assange out of Ecuadorean embassy in London on Thursday after Ecuador abruptly revoked his seven-year asylum, paving the way for his extradition to the United States for involvement in one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information.
Police said they had arrested Assange, 47, after being invited into the embassy following the Ecuadorean government’s withdrawal of asylum. Assange was carried out of the building carrying a copy of Gore Vidal’s “History of The National Security State”. To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined US security.
It was triggered in part by WikiLeaks’ publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of US military reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and American diplomatic communications. “Julian Assange is no hero, he has hidden from the truth for years and years,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said.
A Swedish lawyer representing the alleged rape victim said she would push to have prosecutors reopen the case, but a retired senior prosecutor and chairperson of NGO Victim Support Sweden, said he thought that may be difficult.Friends of Assange said the solitude he had experienced in the embassy had hurt him most.
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