WikiLeak Founder, Julian Assange Arrested, Charged

By Jide Afolabi, Lagos

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, police announced.

Assange has however been charged with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to steal United States military secrets.

The United States has been on the trail of the founder of the foremost secret leaking private body for seven years.

He was alleged to have unlawfully obtained some US military secrets which he released unauthorised.

A video showed a heavily bearded Assange shouting and gesticulating as multiple officers hustled him into a waiting police van. He was arrested on charges that he skipped bail in the UK in 2012 and at the request of US authorities, London’s Metropolitan police said.

Earlier before his arrest, Ecuador withdrew his asylum and invited authorities into the embassy, citing Assange’s bad behavior.

Assange, who is from Australia, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London on Thursday afternoon, where he was charged with failing to surrender in 2012.