Julian Assange Arrested by U.K. Police, Threatened with Extradition to the U.S.

April 11, 2019 (EIRNS)—WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested today in London after the government of Ecuador revoked asylum under various pretexts. The U.S. Justice Department has asked for extradition, accusing Assange of having conspired with Chelsea Manning in leaking classified papers on the Iraq War.

President Donald Trump, however, told journalists: “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing. And I know there was something having to do with Julian Assange. I’ve been seeing what was happening with Assange.”

Lawyers’ associations throughout the world protested against the arrest. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on Ecuador’s decision to revoke Assange’s asylum. “The hand of ‘democracy’ squeezes the throat of freedom,” she wrote on her Facebook page, according to Moscow Times.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted:

“The DOJ says part of what Assange did to justify his prosecution—beyond allegedly helping Manning get the documents—is he encouraged Manning to get more docs for him to publish. Journalists do this with sources constantly: it’s the criminalization of journalism.”

Edward Snowden tweeted:

“The weakness of the U.S. charge against Assange is shocking. The allegation he tried (and failed?) to help crack a password during their world-famous reporting has been public for nearly a decade: it is the count Obama’s DOJ refused to charge, saying it endangered journalism.”