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Miguel Medina / AFP - Getty Images, file
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrives for a hearing at the Supreme Court in London on February 2.
LONDON - British police summoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to a London police station on Thursday as part of his extradition process, demanding he leave Ecuador's embassy where he has been holed up seeking political asylum.
Assange, 40, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex crime allegations and took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy in a surprise move last week.
He now risks being arrested the moment he steps outside the red-brick building after breaching bail terms, keeping both his supporters and police puzzled as to what he might do next.
On Thursday, police said it had formally "served a surrender notice upon a 40-year-old man that requires him to attend a police station at date and time of our choosing."
WikiLeaks' Assange says Ecuador 'quite supportive'
It added: "He remains in breach of his bail conditions, failing to surrender would be a further breach of conditions and he is liable to arrest."
The statement, in line with UK police policy, did not name him but local media quoted sources identifying him as Assange.
The BBC reported the extradition unit delivered a note to both Assange and the Ecuador embassy. The embassy declined to comment. Other media reported that he was due to present himself to a police station on Friday.
Assange enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. diplomatic cables.
He denies any wrongdoing in Sweden and says he fears that if extradited there he could be sent on to the United States, where he could face criminal charges punishable by death.
After losing his appeal against extradition to Sweden to face allegations against rape and sexual assault, The Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, says he is considering his next step, which could be an appeal to Britain's Supreme Court. ITN's Sejal Karia reports.
Assange, known for his unpredictable behavior, caused a media storm in Britain with his asylum bid. Ecuador's ambassador has in the meantime flown home to discuss whether to grant him asylum but the decision has yet to be made.
By diplomatic convention, police cannot enter the embassy without authorization from Ecuador. But even if Quito granted him asylum, he has no way of travelling to Ecuador without passing through London and exposing himself to arrest.
WikiLeaks' Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador
On Tuesday, a group of celebrities and activists published an open letter to Ecuador published in The Guardian newspaper asking that Assange be given asylum in that country because he faced the death penalty if eventually sent to the United States.
"We believe Mr Assange has good reason to fear extradition to Sweden, as there is a strong likelihood that once in Sweden, he would be imprisoned, and then likely extradited to the United States," reads the letter signed by the leaker of the Pentagon Papers Daniel Ellsberg, film-maker Michael Moore, actor and director Danny Glover, director Oliver Stone, comedian Bill Maher and author Naomi Wolf, among others.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Clearly he knows his is guilty and the world knows he is guilty. He deserves to be hanged then shot twice.
What an embarrasing move by U.K. police. Imagine Chinese police "demanding" someone staying in the U.S. Embassy being handed over to them. "demanding" a foreign country do something for you is only going to make them refuse to do it more just to show that you don't control them.
@pjam09
There's a slight difference between being under house arrest for protesting civil rights abuse of your own country and releasing private diplomatic/military documents of a foreign government. Keep in mind, Assange is not a US citizen (in which case it'd be treason), he's an Australian citizen (so it's espionage).
Dumb, he hasn't even been charged in Sweden or the US and yet you know he's guilty and deserves to die.
Charge him or let him get on with his life, this secret police tactics are not what we are about Top Gun. There is a process to find him guilty, and step one is charging him.
And for the record, the reason we have courts is to determine if he did anything wrong. You don't know if he's guilty any more than I do, so quit with the juvenile assumptions and declarations.
I really don't think the USA wants him dead. We just want to make sure he is very busy minding his own business and stop embarrassing us.
I wonder if Rep. Issa has contacted Julian yet. Issa has been wasting $millions to obtain 700,000+ whitehouse documents concerning the "fast and furious" operation. Those that Issas has been given to him are heavilly redacted. I am surprised that the republican house has not yet hired Jullian Assange to obtain them for their perusal (or, maybe they already have?). And, these will be of the unredacted version. Why threaten to kill him when he can be of such great help to these republican zealots?
Unfortunately, Assange doesn't really face the death penalty, although the applicable law does provide for it; it provides for the death penalty only in times of war. The worst he can face here in the U.S. is life in prison. Of course, who's to say what convicts would do to an arrogant, convicted spy? By the way, the law I cite is Article 794, Title 18, U.S. Codes.
What the sex-pervert is really afraid of is that a couple of Swedish babes will permanently take him out of the gene pool by cutting off his c**k with a rusty breadknife.
CLEARLY I don't know that he is guilty - except of exposing corruption, and now the "powers" that be try to discredit by bringing trumped up charges in order to quiet him. That's what I believe. I think the corrupt government officials should be hanged.
Sweden is a VERY serious country and no great friend of the U.S. He must face the music of the sexual crimes he is accused of .He will have a fair trial and can confront his accusers.These are not political charges.and hiding in the Ecuador Embassy is completely bonkers.He is also a thief for opening and hacking other peoples mail.But that still has to be judged.Meanwhile back to Sweden. Your number has been called!
I think it is a bogus made up charge brought by the US designed to take him down. He hasn't embarrassed the US, he has exposed criminal politicians.
@pjam09: the British police didn't demand Ecuador hand him over (they can't do that) what they actually did (which is in the article) is demand Assange surrender himself to them. It's a formality and precisely no-one thought he'd actually do it.
I don't like Assange and believe whatever good things Wikileaks may have done in the past Assange has continually been a liability to the project as he is a paranoid, arrogant, self-centred egomaniac who seems to have no interest or understanding of what damage his actions might cause.
However, being old-fashioned, I also happen to believe that someone is innocent until proven guilty.
I also believe that a trial should be fair.
Assange sent a clip-montage to a BBC current affairs programme today which shows multiple examples of Senators, Congressmen, etc. saying he should be executed without trial and some saying American squads should land in whatever country he's in and execute him there.
He claims this shows he is unable to get a fair trial in the US. The number of people making similar comments on message boards whenever his name comes up reinforces this notion to him.
Leaked documents also indicate that he is already being part-tried in absentia and in secret.
However, a female supporter of his has also claimed several months back that she spent a couple of days in his company interviewing him and found him somewhat sexually creepy and as if he felt women should just submit to his radiant genius.
When I consider his asylum claim, his fighting extradition and reports from women who've met him I wonder whether he may actually be more afraid of trial in Sweden.
I am curious as to where the line in the sand on a public interest defence comes. News shows, newspapers, current affairs shows, etc. often utilize releases of information that are protected by law or confidentiality clauses (etc.) whether it be document leaks or whistleblowers or whatever. When does a legitimate public interest defence become treason? Does the US even recognize such a defence?
Ligeti: To address your last point. In the U.S. (at least in my experience) classified documents are clearly identified and marked. The little diplomatic traffic I have seen is similarly marked. There can be little doubt when a classified document is handled, released, etc. I don't know whether the U.S. does recognize such a defense as you ask. I rather doubt it - at least as a rule; such a defense would have to be handled on a case-by-case basis. Articles 793 and 794 of Title 18, U.S. Codes do not speak to the issue of classified material, per se. They speak to national defense information, which inicludes all classified information as well as a whole raft of other stuff. On the face of it, from what I understand, an awful lot of what he leaked is/was classified. That would make him guilty of violating both articles. Article 793 carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison; article 794, life, and in time of war, death.
As you say, I, too, intensly dislike Assange. I personally think he should face charges - in the United States - for espionage under Article 794 of Title 18, USC. Then, assuming he is convicted, sentence him to life in the general population of a federal prison; we'd see how long he would last.
While you don't say it explicitly, he seems to think he's too good to have to obey any nation's laws. That's part of his arrogance. And not only does he neither understand not have an interest in the damage he's caused, he simply doesn't care. He is simply showing the world who is the smarter. Paranoid? Perhaps. However, there are people out to get him, a lot of people, people whom he has hurt, relatives of people he has hurt (or caused to be killed), and people who do not like spies, among others.
If he's not guilty face the courts, why is he hiding because he is guilty and he knows it. If it walks and quacks like a Duck it sure as hell is not a chicken.
Guilty of what???? The sex offense is just an excuse to "punish" him for exposing the atrocities that the US committed, and keeps doing, in other countries in the name of "freedom"
Is that all it takes in our world to have an excuse to set about the destruction of a "Whistle Blowers" life in our world?
The New World ..... American Law shall be enforced world wide ... there be no distention, or diversity of thought about what is right or wrong ...... even the truth doesn't mater ..... the government is never wrong ... "DO WHAT WE SAY WITHOUT THINKING .... NO COMMENT ... OR SUFFER LIFETIME INCARCERATION BY THE UNITED STATES!"
Sounds a bit like Stalin's Russia or Hitlers Germany to me ..... the pretense of justice is growing very thin in the "Land Of The Free"
I don't know if Sweden is the only country to have a law against sex without a condom but that is all he is accused of anyway . Seem odd to me that this entire thing is over two women that had sex with him then much later decided that since a condom wasn't used they would try to get money from him , when that failed they wanted to press charges of which he is only wanted for questioning on .
Eat your peas Julian.
What a chicken-@!$%#. Big mouth and nothing to back it up with.
What a chicken-@!$%#. Big mouth and nothing to back it up with. Hiding, hm, a real man alright??
Wisconsin Democrats are so impressed they have already offered him a Senate position with perks.
I think he has more in common with the republicans, both love to risk the lives of Americans for their own personal gain.
Republicans don't like that he embarrassed the Democratic Party leaders, namely Obama and Clinton ?
Can I get a handbook, because I can't keep track of what you you guys think is good/bad anymore. But good to see you clowns fighting the good fight.
Well, we all know he's guilty. Heck, our noble politicians once did a press release on how he had published stuff that might could maybe somehow endanger US troops and our cohorts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
That's enough for me, right there. If Obama says he's guilty, then he's guilty... I don't even care what he's guilty of.
This "freedom of the press" thing is waaay over done. If people have the right to publish whatever gets leaked to them.... why, it would be chaos. The list of prominent Americans with secret Swiss bank accounts would be public knowledge and half of Congress and the entire SCOTUS would be unemployed.
Plus, this idea that you can't imprison people without charges and public hearings has to go the way of the Dodo bird. It unnecessarily ties the hands of government. If the US is the land of the free, why, then the government has to be free to do what it wants.
And that can't happen if you get yahoos like this one running their own websites and saying whatever.
We have the corporate press, that's all we need. If a information source is not beholding to politicians for billions of dollars of political advertising, why, there may be no way to control them. An uncontrolled press is dangerous, and a threat to the freedom of our government.
Wow Yearning.... stop sipping that toxic tea... you really can't be serious!... your clearly Anti-American...and anti freedom "An uncontrolled press is dangerous"....ahhh no... an uncontrolled government is dangerous...history has shown this time and time again... the government need be scared of the people...not the people scared of the government. "freedom of press thing is waaay over done".... really?... you need mental assistance. Julian is guilty of trying to educate the world of it's lies.... yes its dirty and yes it will hurt people... but its not Julian that is hurting people... its the lies in and of themselves. It's not the gun that kills...its the shooter. I want to see all the lies of the banks unraveled.... can you do that for us Julian?!?! We'd all go to hell in a hand-basket if the constitution didn't somewhat protect us from idiots like Yearning.
Based on the Hollywood types that signed the letter, it seems McCarthy may have been right, they're all Communists.
Really? You think "Communism" is a big threat today? Siddown and take a deep breath.
I love reading he's afraid of being extradited to the US where he might face the death penalty. What did he think was going to happen - someone was going to slap him on the ass and say "great work?" And lets not forget by releasing those docs he placed our kids even further in harms way.
Sometimes people are too smart for their own good, so smart that they're just stupid, thinking they're above everything else. Well let's see how you plan on pulling yourself out of this pickle. You're gonna need the team from "The Italian Job" to get out of this one.
Actually, no one can say who was threatened or feasibly harmed by his releases. That information is nowhere to be found. The Obama administration once did a press release saying that all people whose names might be on the stolen disks were to be warned they might be exposed. They weren't...nobody was exposed...but that press release was enough to galvanize this metaphorical lemming herd.
It IS kinda funny about the death penalty... There aren't even charges against him anywhere... not in Sweden, Britain, or the US.
As it turns out... if you have a list of prominent Americans with Swiss bank accounts, charges are unnecessary.
Mr. President,
Now I know how you sat back and watched Tucson happen increased how your worthless and shameful ass measures risk every where but torturing him to death with your global pile of @!$%# as his family is forced to watch while you eliminate all medical treatments is not the answer ok silly.
Cause a mild diagnosis against your innocent citizen (where maybe the smallest measure of risk was necessary to take the most perverted and shameful war crimes in human history off the table exclusively to engineer a story line on the shallowest and thinnest surface) would have been just fine but I know it is to hard to maintain this for life and the pure trash at the FBI does not want to secure any more vacations so a sudden onset of instant insanity is better where you make it look like the side effects of the medication I should not be taking cause convulsions as I take it because I struggle to breath at night to kick me off meds all together to create a plausible path for the next and more violent mood swing but are you a @!$%#in man you pathetic slob.
Cause if I wanted to force you to lock in my profile for life and had less respect for myself I would target Durbins policy rather than be sufficated and kept up every night.
You can look out the window and every creature you see has more worth and dignity than you you pathetic bitch so bring it as the FBI spots the most repulsive and pointless spectical in human history...
FBI trash, you pieces of garbage know you are the most shameful @!$%#s on the globe...
There is a certain tragedy when grown man just used to thinking like this HU and the most unspeakable crimes are committed for the most shameful of reasons...
Congratulations on health care you pathetic @!$%#...
Frothy, inelegant, and rage-tacular. I give it a 5.5 out of 10.
Maybe, a qualifying essay to return to the old regimen of meds?
.
All the comments so far are real Americanism in its best! Real patriotic! USA is always # 1.
It would be hard to say he is guilty of anything since I do not believe the USA has actually charged him with anything yet. There are reports, almost certainly true, that a grand jury has been convened to decide what if anything to charge him with. Until those charges are leveled, all we want him for is questioning.
That said, it is probable that some were there is a bunch of charges in a sealed indictment. But a lot of the BS going on could be undercut if we just decide to tell the world we will not execute him. Life in a super max maybe, but we will not shoot him. Hell, we are not even going to execute Manning, be stupid to execute Assange.
I still find it amazing that Assange seems surprised and upset that some people are a bit peeved at him and want to take him to task for his actions. What sort of moron is is he?
Charges would allow a defense. We can't have known bad guys defending themselves... it would be unChristian and unAmerican.
Look, we were told this guy is guilty, and that's that. Kill him twice.
We're good Americans after all, and we believe in the freedom of government. The list of prominent Americans with secret Swiss bank accounts is none of our business.
If the government wants us to know stuff, they'll tell us.
Yearning......are you seriously that stupid... "we believe in the freedom of government"... NO you moron..its life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for the CITIZENS.... and what planet did you say your from?Someone call crazy hospital...this one is definitely off his rocker.
To all of you who scream about Assange not being notified about charges against him in the US. Here is a news flash- it was not United States that requested his extradition, it was Sweeden on charges that have nothing to do with Wikileaks. Charges that were brought by 2 different women. Do you people even bother to read stories you coment on?
I love it how YEARNING is churning your butter.
Just shows that reading coprehension is dead.
He's just being facetious people.
yeah KJW369 , pretty funny how some people are oblivious when is comes to sarcasm , I mean come on , I knew from his first post what point he's trying to make but some people are just dense.
So he will spend his remaining life in the Ecuador embassy, preferring a life sentence to the death penalty.
I would say the embassy would be much better than any US prison, which everyone knows are full of all kinds of fanatics. One group or another would probably kill him for providing us with interesting information.
After all, here in the US we are expected to follow, not ask questions, or think for ourselves.
He can be flown out of England without them being able to touch him
Bob he still has to get to the air port.
All you loudmouth American buffoons yapping about Assange and being an espionage agent. STFU.
Where were your loud obnoxious mouths screaming blue bloddy murder when Scooter Libby, Richard Armitage and half thew GW Bush regime blew the cover of VALERIE WILSON a undercover CIA agent!!
Gee they did not even do time for treason let alone be put to death!!!!!!!!
Get your bloddy chickens&^% attitude and take it to Easter Isalnd and talk to the statues. Maybe they would be interested in your backwards idiocratic opinions.
I think your facts are a little off as well for one we aint all American, lol as for the rest, way out there. Do a little reading besides the National Enquirer. Bottom line, Julian is being prosecuted for being an full blown idiot and anyone that backs him should go for a psych evaluation.
Julian is being prosecuted for being a full blown idiot? Wow I didn’t know idiocy was illegal in the US, if so I’m expecting the US prison population to expand a lot lol
You can't send him to trial here because he is not a US citizen and was not in the US when he repojrted the facts. What is the matter don't you want to hear the truth about the government. Reply to Losmuertos
Bob -2089091
Wow bob the sarcasm of my last post just went straight over your head didn’t it? I consider that a success
Lol what did the idiot think? He would face no resistance after doing what he did? Utter and complete moron gotta laugh at these freakin nutjobs that think they are above the law. Have fun playing tag with the soap on a rope Julian, Bubba gonna have fun with your skinny white a@@.
What like the US government
Well, Assange is not Christ, so I can see no reason for him to give himself up to the Sadducees and the Pharisees, or even the Philistines.
I thought the US supported whistle blowers? I guess not when they are the ones being blown upon!
Julian cant break US laws when he is not a US citizen and he has committed no crime in the US.Divulging top secret info in Europe doesnt break US law since he didnt steal the info.What if they were Chinese secrets?What if they were alqueda secrets?Iran secrets?The charges are political.They were meant to shut him up, and make an example of him.Good for Ecuador.They have been doing good things lately.
I'd rather see him spend the rest of his life in the Equadoran embassy than to surrender to the Birtish because they're just looking to turn to him over to the U.S. for further shipment to a gulag, where he'll spend the rest of his life. The U.S. government wants to punish him for exposing its treachery and lies.
CLEARLY I don't know that he is guilty - except of exposing corruption, and now the "powers" that be try to discredit by bringing trumped up charges in order to quiet him. That's what I believe. I think the corrupt government officials should be hanged.
No one is allowed to expose the truth of what's going on without being persecuted, discredited, and painted as "off center"... i.e. crazy and deluded. You call THAT "freedom of speech"? We are spoon fed our news and we eat it all up like good little girls and boys. That is not freedom, it's abuse, and we as a nation are idiotic and slumbering all the way to our demise.
“slumbering all the way to our demise.”
Keep it down over here! Some of us are trying to get some sleep! :)
You are supposed to be charged with a crime before they can issue an extradition notice. Sweden has not charged him and said they only want him to answer questions. So why can't they ask him over the phone or send someone to England. England is kissing the US ass. If he is sent to Sweden they will immediately send him to the US. The US said that they want to try him for treason but the only problem with that is that He has to be a US citizen to be tried for treason. Obama is afraid of him because he discloses many corrupt things that the goverment is doing
Unfortunately for Ms. Assange, the laws he is quoting which are "punishable by death" are laws regarding Treason and are not applicable to him since he is not a US citizen (as far as I know), at most he would face a long prison term, but that is about it. I do not know what charges he faces in Sweden, but I'm sure that they must be valid since he is protesting so much instead of trying to actually clear his name. Generally when a person is innocent they will stand up and defend themselves, not run from country to country to avoid facing the charges. I am not saying he is guilty or innocent either in Sweden or the US, but he did not obtain the"documents" he released through any legal means. That is what he is wanted for questioning for in the US, it is not a Freedom of Speach issue.
How about we all remember the names of those celebrities who are standing up behind this self centered ego maniac. No matter how you slice and dice, there are just some things that should never be discussed in public. I hope he hangs and if possible, hang Michael Moore too!
Are there no patriots in Hollywood any longer? I can't imagine Assange would get a death penalty for what he did, but if his crime was that serious and the legal consequences for that crime are death, then why are these Hollywood commies go against their own country?
What a Coward, Since when has the US federal Government sentence anyone to death? Not in my lifetime that Im aware of. There is a huge difference being sentenced for life in club Fed, perhaps he wants a stay at the state prisons which are actually worse. Federal prisons have more white collar criminals. Face your Fears and be a Man about it. You think the USA is so bad, then perhaps thats your punishment life in club fed here.. LOL... Welcome to the USA
Screw the world and find your path......good luck old boy........
We all still love you Julian Assange. The truth shall set you free.
Shut up! If you stole secret documents and you put them up for the world to see then you are guilty. I don't agree with some of things that our government does but something need to be kept quiet. The cables between China and America being put out their like that is reason enough considering the North holds everyone hostage and threatens an all out war on its neighbor every 5 days or so.Give me a break with the truth will set you free @!$%# because it may get him dead.He's hiding because he know he is screwed. Let him go to and get asylum .They will just get him when he closer to us.If we are lucky they will try him and find him guilty. Screw michael moore and the rest of them . Tell Michael Moore to give some of the millions he's making to the causes he so exploits. What a crock of crap that guy is. Funny is I'm a pretty free thinking guy but this is crap!