The arrest came after Ecuador dropped Assange's asylum status, effectively evicting him from their embassy.
London's Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday that they had arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in the British capital. The arrest came after Ecuador dropped Assange's asylum status, effectively evicting him from their embassy.
Assange hadn't left the embassy since August 2012, fearing that if he stepped off Ecuador's diplomatic soil he would be arrested and extradited to the U.S. for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.
The police said Assange was detained "on a warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 29, 2012, for failing to surrender to the court" and taken to a central London police station "where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as is possible."
The police said they were "invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum."
This article was originally published by CBS News on April 11, 2019 at 5:54 a.m. ET.
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