Assange faces arrest, say police

20 Jun 2012, 9:15 pm   -   Source: PA/DPA/AP

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is seeking asylum at Ecuador's London embassy, has breached bail conditions and faces arrest, police say.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is seeking asylum at Ecuador's London embassy, has breached bail conditions and faces arrest, police say.

The 40-year-old Australian is inside the building in Knightsbridge, London, having gone there on Tuesday to request asylum under the United Nations Human Rights Declaration.

The move followed his failed bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex crime allegations.

The Metropolitan Police on Wednesday confirmed Assange is subject to arrest after breaching one of the bail conditions imposed on him by the High Court, which was to stay at his bail address between 10pm and 8am.

A police spokeswoman said: "At around 10.20pm on Tuesday June 19, the (Metropolitan Police Service) was notified that Assange had breached one of those bail conditions. "He is now subject to arrest under the Bail Act for breach of these conditions.

"Officers are aware of his location at the Ecuador Embassy in Hans Crescent, London." Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces accusations of raping a woman and sexually molesting and coercing another in Stockholm in August 2010 while on a visit to give a lecture.

Assange, 40, whose WikiLeaks website has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables that embarrassed several governments and international businesses, says the sex was consensual and the allegations against him are politically motivated.

In May, Britain's Supreme Court upheld a High Court ruling that his extradition was legal. Last week the same court refused an attempt by him to reopen his appeal against extradition, saying it was "without merit".

He had until June 28 to ask European judges in Strasbourg to consider his case and postpone extradition on the basis that he has not had a fair hearing from the UK courts.

Assange said in a brief statement that he was grateful "to the Ecuadorean ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application."

Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino told a press conference in the South American country that Assange wrote to the country's president, Rafael Correa, saying he was being persecuted and was seeking asylum.

He told the press conference Assange argued that "the authorities in his country will not defend his minimum guarantees in front of any government or ignore the obligation to protect a politically persecuted citizen".

He added that Assange wrote that he could not return to his home country because it would not block his extradition to "a foreign country that applies the death penalty for the crime of espionage and sedition".

Ecuador's embassy in London said it was "studying and analysing" Assange's request for asylum.

"The decision to consider Mr Assange's application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden," a statement from the embassy said.

"In order to reach a proper decision in line with international law on Mr Assange's application, the Ecuadorian government will be seeking the views of the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States of America."

Assange is wanted for questioning by Swedish authorities over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women, who said the attacks happened in 2010.

Thomas Olsson, a lawyer representing Assange in Sweden, told Swedish Radio: "I don't want to comment these events until I have more knowledge about what has happened." Claes Borgstrom, a lawyer representing the two Swedish women, regretted Assange's move on Tuesday.

"It was completely unexpected," Borgstrom said. "But it was in line with how he has acted during the almost two years that have passed, stalling and shifting the focus from what the case is about."

Borgstrom said the delay meant "extra pressure" on his clients. Ecuador has made friendly noises about Assange in the past.

In the November 2010, at the height of the media storm over WikiLeaks disclosures, its government appeared to offer him sanctuary.

On Assange's television talk show - on which he interviewed Correa via videolink earlier this year - the pair swapped jokes and messages of encouragement.

It was during the interview that Assange received an offer of asylum, according to a woman who was present during the shows and familiar with the offer.

Julian Assange.

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