He’s not been arrested for anything related to Wikileaks, however. Instead, British police arrested Julian Assange “on behalf of the Swedish authorities on suspicion of rape.” He will appear in court today. UPDATING LIVE
https://jezebel.com/wikileaks-julian-assange-is-accused-of-rape-updated-5705430
As we saw last week, Assange was charged by the Swedish police for “rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion,” and a notice was put out for him to turn himself in. He has been rumored to be hiding somewhere in Britain, but according to Sky News today, he presented himself to a London police station at 9.30am GMT (4.30am EST), where he was arrested on behalf of Sweden.
According to the City of Westminster’s magistrates court, he must appear before the court by 12.30pm (7.30am EST), unless the judge allows him a later hearing—which it’s expected will be granted.
Wikileaks’ spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson has said that while Assange has been arrested, Wikileaks’ will continue releasing cables—potentially even an encryption code for all the remaining cables, which they threatened to release if Assange was ever arrested.
In fact, Wikileaks tweeted that “Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal.”
Assange has now been in court, and was reportedly denied bail. He will remain in custody until December 14th. [The Guardian]
