British police dragged Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorean embassy on Thursday after his seven-year asylum was revoked, paving the way for his extradition to the United States for one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information
The frail-looking WikiLeaks founder, with white hair and a long beard, was carried head first out of the embassy in London shortly after 0900 GMT by at least seven men to a waiting police van, after shouting"This is unlawful, I'm not leaving."
Assange's lawyer in Quito said his life would be in danger if he were to be extradited to the United States.Police said they had arrested Assange, 47, after being invited into the embassy following the Ecuadorean government's withdrawal of asylum. Assange was carried out of the building carrying a copy of Gore Vidal's"History of The National Security State", which he continued reading in court.
To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security. It was triggered in part by WikiLeaks' publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and American diplomatic communications.
"Julian Assange is no hero, he has hidden from the truth for years and years," British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said. A Swedish lawyer representing the alleged rape victim said she would push to have prosecutors reopen the case, but a retired senior prosecutor and chairman of NGO Victim Support Sweden, said he thought that may be difficult.Friends of Assange said the solitude he had experienced in the embassy had hurt him most.
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