Wikileaks’ Assange faces arrest in Britain
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, centre, arrives at the High Court in central London, on July 12, 2011.
British police have confirmed that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, faces arrest for violating the terms of his bail.
Assange, who is currently seeking political asylum at the Ecuador Embassy in London, remains out of the grasp of police, as long as he stays inside.
According to the Boston Globe, police officers were stationed in Knightsbridge outside the embassy, along with a small group of pro-Assange protesters.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is wanted in Sweden for sex crimes, after two women accused him of sexual misconduct during a visit there in mid-2010.
Under the conditions of his bail agreement, Assange was under house arrest in Britain between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. — a condition he violated by staying overnight at the Embassy of Ecuador.
“He is now subject to arrest under the Bail Act for breach of these conditions,” Britain’s Metropolitan Police, better known as Scotland Yard, said in a statement. “Officers are aware of his location.”
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According to the UK Press Association, there is only one other avenue that appears to remain for Assange. His legal team has 14 days to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to hear his case.
He could be now be extradited in as little as two weeks, as early as Thursday, June 28.
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Yesterday, Assange's mother, Christine Assange, said that she "desperately hopes" Ecuador will decide to protect her son.
"Julian is a political prisoner, a journalist, a publisher of the truth about corruption, war crimes, kidnapping, blackmail and manipulation," she said to the Herald Sun. "He remains uncharged and unquestioned on a crime which if you explore it has absolutely no basis. Of course he would seek asylum."
Responding to criticism of Australia's handling of the case on ABC News 24, Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard argued that Assange had received more consular assistance than any other Australian in recent times.
Meanwhile, a group of Assange's supporters held a vigil in the Australian city of Brisbane as they waited for news on Ecuador's decision, Australian Associated Press reported.
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