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WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, who was arrested in London on Thursday for breaching his British bail conditions is also being held over an extradition request from the United States, British police said.
According to AFP, the 47-year-old Australian has “been further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities, at 10:53 am after his arrival at a central London police station. This is an extradition warrant under Section 73 of the Extradition Act”, a British police statement stated.
Meanwhile, people have been reacting to the arrest of the WikiLeaks founder.
His supporters said his arrest is an assault on press freedom while his opponents hailed it as a step in the right direction.
Here are some of the reactions from officials, activists and celebrities to his arrest
British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt: ‘he is no hero’
What is not acceptable is for someone to escape facing justice and he had tried to do that for a very long time and that is why he is no hero,” Hunt said in a statement.
WikiLeaks: asylum halt ‘illegal’
“Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange’s political asylum in violation of international law,” WikiLeaks said on Twitter.
Ecuador: ‘sovereign right’
“Ecuador has decided with sovereign rights to withdraw the diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange for repeatedly violating international conventions and the protocol of cohabitation,” President Lenin Moreno said on Twitter.
Snowden: ‘Dark moment’
“Assange’s critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom,” US whistleblower Edward Snowden said on Twitter.
Russia: ‘UK strangling freedom’
“The hand of ‘democracy’ is strangling freedom,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook.
Ecuador leader branded ‘traitor’
“The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin Moreno, allowed British police to enter our embassy in London to arrest Assange… What he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget,” Ecuador’s former leader Rafael Correa wrote on Twitter.
Sweden accuser: reopen the case
“We will do everything we can to get the prosecutors to reopen the Swedish investigation so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and be prosecuted for rape,” his accuser’s lawyer Elisabeth Massi Fritz told AFP.
Australia: ‘due process’
Australian Foreign Minister, Marise Payne said she is “confident” that Assange “will receive due process in the legal proceedings he faces in the United Kingdom.”
Pamela Anderson: ‘shock’
“I am in shock. How could you Equador (sic)? (Because he exposed you). How could you UK?” wrote the former “Baywatch” actress Pamela Anderson, reportedly a close friend of Assange, on Twitter.
(Source: AFP)