QUITO, April 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A collaborator of WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange was arrested Thursday in Ecuador while trying to flee to
Japan, the South American country’s interior minister said.
The minister, Maria Paula Romo, did not name the person or give their
identity.
She said the person was very close to Assange, who was arrested Thursday in London on a US extradition request after spending seven years in the
Ecuadoran embassy there.
Assange stay at the embassy came to an abrupt end when police entered the building and arrested him after Ecuador withdrew his asylum.
Assange has been living at the embassy in London’s plush Knightsbridge district since 2012 when he sought refuge there after being accused of sexual assault in Sweden — allegations that have since been dropped.
Footage shot by Ruptly, a video news agency, showed a frantic-looking Assange, with a large white beard, being carried down the embassy steps by several men into a police van.
WikiLeaks accused Ecuador of breaching international law by withdrawing his asylum and said the country’s ambassador to London had “invited” police into the embassy building to carry out the arrest.
“Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law,” the whistleblowing website said on Twitter.
Russia accused Britain of “strangling freedom” with Assange’s arrest, in a Facebook message by foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. — NNN-AGENCIES
