The indictment of Julian Assange unsealed today by the Trump Justice Department poses grave threats to press freedoms, not only in the U.S. but around the world. The charging document and accompanying extradition request from the U.S. government, used by the U.K. police to arrest Assange once Ecuadorofficially withdrew its asylum protection, seeks to criminalize numerous activities at the core of investigative journalism.

So much of what has been reported today about this indictment has been false. Two facts in particular have been utterly distorted by the DOJ and then misreported by numerous media organizations.

The first crucial factabout the indictment is thatits key allegation that Assange did not merely receive classified documents from Chelsea Manning but tried to help hercrack a password in order to cover her tracks is not new. It was long known by the Obama DOJ and wasexplicitly part of Mannings trial, yet the Obama DOJ not exactly renownedfor beingstalwart guardiansof press freedoms concluded that it could not and should not prosecute Assange becauseindicting him would pose serious threats to press freedom. In sum, todays indictment contains no new evidence or facts about Assanges actions; all of it has been known for years.

The other key fact being widely misreported is that the indictment accuses Assange of trying to help Manningobtain accessto documentdatabases to which she had no valid access:i.e., hacking rather than journalism. But the indictment alleges no such thing. Rather, it simply accuses Assange of trying to help Manning log into the Defense Departments computers using a different username so that she could maintain her anonymity while downloading documents in the public interest and then furnish them to WikiLeaks to publish.

In other words, the indictment seeks to criminalize what journalists are not only permitted but ethically required to do: take steps to help their sources maintain their anonymity. As longtime Assange lawyer Barry Pollack put it: The factual allegations boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source. Journalists around the world should be deeply troubled by these unprecedented criminal charges.

Thats why the indictment poses such a grave threat to press freedom. It characterizes as a felonymany actions that journalists are not just permitted but required to take in order toconduct sensitive reporting in the digital age.

But because the DOJ issued a press release with a headline that claimed that Assange was accused of hacking crimes, media outlets mindlessly repeated this claimeven though the indictment contains no such allegation. It merely accuses Assange of trying to help Manning avoid detection. Thats not hacking. Thats called a core obligation of journalism.

The history of this case is vital for understanding what actually happened today. The U.S. government has been determined to indict Julian Assange and WikiLeaks since at least 2010, when the group published hundreds of thousands of war logs and diplomatic cables revealing numerous war crimes and other acts of corruption by the U.S., the U.K., and other governments around the world. To achieve that goal, the Obama DOJ empaneled a grand jury in 2011 and conducted a sweeping investigation into WikiLeaks, Assange, and Manning.

But in 2013, the Obama DOJ concluded that it could not prosecuteAssange in connection with the publication of those documents because there was no way to distinguish what WikiLeaks did from what the New York Times, The Guardian, and numerous media outlets around the world routinely do: namely, work with sources to publish classified documents.

The Obama DOJ tried for years to find evidence to justify a claim that Assange did more than act as a journalist that he, for instance, illegally worked with Manning to steal the documents but found nothing to justify that accusation and thus, never indicted Assange (as noted, the Obama DOJ since at least 2011 was well-aware of the core allegation of todays indictment that Assange tried to help Manning circumvent a password wall so she could use a different username because that was all part of Mannings charges).

So Obama ended eight years in office without indicting Assange or WikiLeaks. Everything regarding Assanges possible indictment changed onlyat the start of the Trump administration. Beginning in early 2017, the most reactionary Trump officialswere determined to do what the Obama DOJ refused to do: indict Assange in connection with publication of the Manning documents.

As the New York Times reported late last year, Soon after he took over as C.I.A. director, [current Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo privately told lawmakers about a new target for American spies: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. The Times added thatMr. Pompeo and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions unleashed an aggressive campaign against Mr. Assange, reversing an Obama-era view of WikiLeaks as a journalistic entity.

In April, 2017, Pompeo, while still CIA chief, delivered a deranged speech proclaiming that we have to recognize that we can no longer allow Assange and his colleaguesthe latitude to use free speech values against us. He punctuated his speech with this threat: To give them the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what our great Constitution stands for. It ends now.

From the start, the Trump DOJ has made no secret of its desire to criminalize journalism generally. Early in the Trump administration, Sessions explicitly discussed the possibility of prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information. Trump and his key aides were open about how eagerthey were to build on, and escalate, the Obama administrations progress in enabling journalism in the U.S. to be criminalized.

Todays arrest of Assange is clearly the culmination of atwo-year effort by the U.S. government to coerce Ecuador under its new and submissive president, Lenn Moreno to withdraw the asylum protectionit extended to Assange in 2012. Rescinding Assanges asylum would enable the U.K.to arrest Assange on minor bail-jumping charges pending in London and, far more significantly,to rely onan extradition request from the U.S. government to send him to a country to which he has no connection (the U.S.) to stand trialrelating toleaked documents.

Indeed, the Trump administrations motive here is clear. With Ecuador withdrawing its asylum protection and subserviently allowing the U.K. to enter its own embassy to arrest Assange, Assange faced no charges other than a minor bail-jumping charge in the U.K. (Sweden closed its sexual assault investigation not because they concluded Assange was innocent, but because they spent yearsunsuccessfullytrying to extradite him). By indicting Assange and demanding his extradition, it ensures that Assange once he serves his time in a London jailfor bail-jumping will be kept in a British prison for the full year or longer that it takes for the U.S. extradition request, which Assange will certainly contest, to wind its way through the British courts.

The indictment tries to cast itself as charging Assange not withjournalistic activities but with criminal hacking. But it is a thinly disguised pretext for prosecuting Assange for publishing the U.S. governments secret documents while pretending to make it about something else.

Whatever else is true about the indictment, substantial parts ofthe document explicitlycharacterize as criminal exactly the actions that journalists routinely engage in with their sources and thus, constitutes a dangerous attempt to criminalize investigative journalism.

The indictment, for instance, places great emphasis on Assanges alleged encouragement that Manning after she already turned over hundreds of thousands of classified documents try to get more documents for WikiLeaks to publish. The indictment claims that discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that after this upload, thats all I really have got left. To which Assange replied, curious eyes never run dry in my experience.

But encouraging sources to obtain more information is something journalists do routinely. Indeed, it would be a breach of ones journalistic dutiesnot to ask vital sources with access to classified information if they could provide even more information so as to allow more complete reporting. If a source comes to a journalist with information, it is entirely common and expected that the journalist would reply: Can you also get me X, Y, and Z to complete the story or to make it better?As Edward Snowden said this morning, Bob Woodward stated publicly he would have advised me to remain in place and act as a mole.

Investigative journalism in many, if not most, cases, entails a constant back and forth between journalist and source in which the journalist tries to induce the source to provide more classified information, even if doing so is illegal. To include such encouragement as part of a criminal indictment as the Trump DOJ did today is to criminalize the crux of investigative journalism itself, even if the indictment includes other activities you believe fall outside the scope of journalism.

As Northwestern journalism professor Dan Kennedyexplained in The Guardianin2010 whendenouncing as a press freedom threat the Obama DOJs attempts to indict Assange based on the theory thathe did more than passively receive and publish documents i.e., that he actively colluded with Manning:

The problem is that there is no meaningful distinction to be made. How did theGuardian, equally, not collude with WikiLeaks in obtaining the cables? How did the New York Times not collude with the Guardian when the Guardian gave the Times a copy following Assanges decision to cut the Times out of the latest document dump?

For that matter, I dont see how any news organisation can be said not to have colluded with a source when it receives leaked documents. Didnt the Times collude with Daniel Ellsberg when itreceived the Pentagon Papersfrom him? Yes, there are differences. Ellsberg had finished making copies long before he began working with the Times, whereas Assange may have goaded Manning. But does that really matter?

Most of the reports about the Assange indictment today have falsely suggested that the Trump DOJ discovered some sort of new evidence that proved Assange tried to help Manning hack through a password in order to use a different username to download documents. Aside from the fact that those attempts failed, none of this is new: As the last five paragraphs of this 2011 Politico story demonstrate, that Assange talked to Manning about ways to use a different username so as to avoid detection was part of Mannings trial and waslong known to the Obama DOJ when they decided not to prosecute.

There are onlytwo new events that explain todays indictment of Assange: 1) The Trump administration from the start included authoritarian extremists such as Sessions and Pompeo who do not care in the slightest about press freedom and were determined to criminalize journalism against the U.S., and 2) With Ecuador about to withdraw its asylum protection, the U.S. government needed an excuse to prevent Assange from walking free.

A technical analysis of the indictments claimssimilarly provesthe charge against Assange to be a serious threat to First Amendment press liberties, primarily because it seeks to criminalize what is actually a journalists core duty: helping ones source avoid detection. The indictment deceitfully seeks to cast Assanges efforts to help Manning maintain her anonymity as some sort of sinister hacking attack.

The Defense Department computer that Manning used to download the documents which she then furnished to WikiLeaks waslikely running the Windows operating system. It had multiple user accounts on it, including an account to which Manning had legitimate access. Each account is protected by a password, and Windows computers store a file that contains a list of usernames and password hashes, or scrambled versions of the passwords. Only accounts designated as administrator,a designation Mannings account lacked, have permission to access this file.

The indictment suggests that Manning, in order to access this password file, powered off her computer and then powered it back on, this time booting to a CD running the Linux operating system. From within Linux, she allegedly accessed this file full of password hashes. The indictment alleges that Assange agreed to try to crack one of these password hashes, which, if successful, would recover the original password. With the original password, Manning would be able to log directly into that other users account, which as the indictment puts it would have made it more difficult for investigators to identify Manning as the source of disclosures of classified information.

Assange appears to have been unsuccessful in cracking the password. The indictment alleges that Assange indicated that he had been trying to crack the password by stating that he had no luck so far.

Thus, even if one accepts all of the indictments claims as true, Assange was not trying to hack into new document filesto which Manning had no access, but rather trying to help Manning avoid detection as a source. For that reason, the precedent that this case would set would be a devastating blow to investigative journalists andpress freedom everywhere.

Journalists have an ethical obligation to take steps to protect their sources from retaliation, which sometimes includes granting them anonymity andemploying technical measures to help ensure that their identity is not discovered. When journalists take source protection seriously, they strip metadata and redact information from documents before publishing them if that information could have been used to identify their source; they host cloud-based systems such as SecureDrop, now employed by dozens of major newsrooms around the world, that make it easier and safer for whistleblowers, who may be under surveillance, to send messages and classified documents to journalists without their employers knowing; and they use secure communication tools like Signal and set them to automatically delete messages.

But todays indictment of Assange seeks to criminalize exactly these types of source-protection efforts, as it states that it was part of the conspiracy that Assange and Manning used a special folder on a cloud drop box of WikiLeaks to transmit classified records containing information related to the national defense of the United States.

The indictment, in numerous other passages, plainly conflates standard newsroom best practices with a criminal conspiracy. It states, for instance, thatit was part of the conspiracy that Assange and Manning used the Jabber online chat service to collaborate on the acquisition and dissemination of the classified records, and to enter into the agreement to crack the password []. There is no question that using Jabber, or any other encrypted messaging system, to communicate with sources and acquire documents with the intent to publish them, is a completely lawful and standard part of modern investigative journalism. Newsrooms across the world now use similar technologies to communicate securely with their sources and to help their sources avoid detection by the government.

The indictment similarly alleges that it was part of the conspiracy that Assange and Manning took measures to conceal Manning as the source of the disclosure of classified records to WikiLeaks, including by removing usernames from the disclosed information and deleting chat logs between Assange and Manning.

Excerpt from:
Julian Assange Indictment Poses Grave Threats to Free Press

James Ball: You dont have to like Julian Assange to defend him

According to Interior Minister Mara Paula Romo, this evidently exceeded redecorating the embassy with excrementalas, we still dont know whether it was Assanges or someone elsesrefusing to bathe, and welcoming all manner of international riffraff to visit him. It also involved interfering in the internal political matters in Ecuador, as Romo told reporters in Quito. Assange and his organization, WikiLeaks, Romo said, have maintained ties to two Russian hackers living in Ecuador who worked with one of the countrys former foreign ministers, Ricardo Patio, to destabilize the Moreno administration.

We dont yet know whether Romos allegation is true (Patio denied it) or simply a pretext for booting a nuisance from state property. But Assanges ties to Russian hackers and Russian intelligence organs are now beyond dispute.

Special Counsel Robert Muellers indictment of 12 cyberoperatives for Russias Main Intelligence Directorate for the General Staff (GRU) suggests that Assange was, at best, an unwitting accomplice to the GRUs campaign to sway the U.S. presidential election in 2016, and allegedly even solicited the stolen Democratic correspondence from Russias military intelligence agency, which was masquerading as Guccifer 2.0. Assange repeatedly and viciously trafficked, on Twitter and on Fox News, in the thoroughly debunked claim that the correspondence might have been passed to him by the DNC staffer Seth Rich, who, Assange darkly suggested, was subsequently murdered by the Clintonistas as revenge for the presumed betrayal.

Mike Pompeo, then CIA director and, as an official in Donald Trumps Cabinet, an indirect beneficiary of Assanges meddling in American democracy, went so far as to describe WikiLeaks as a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia. For those likening the outfit to legitimate news organizations, Id submit that this is a shade more severe a description, especially coming from Americas former spymaster, than anything Trump has ever grumbled about The New York Times or The Washington Post.

Russian diplomats had concocted a plot, as recently as late 2017, to exfiltrate Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy, according to The Guardian. Four separate sources said the Kremlin was willing to offer support for the planincluding the possibility of allowing Assange to travel to Russia and live there. One of them said that an unidentified Russian businessman served as an intermediary in these discussions. The plan was scuttled only because it was deemed too dangerous.

Read: The radical evolution of WikiLeaks

In 2015, Focus Ecuador reported that Assange had aroused suspicion among Ecuadors own intelligence service, SENAIN, which spied on him in the embassy in a years-long operation. In some instances, [Assange] requested that he be able to choose his own Security Service inside the embassy, even proposing the use of operators of Russian nationality, the Ecuadorian journal noted, adding that SENAIN looked on such a proposal with something less than unmixed delight.

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Julian Assange Got What He Deserved - The Atlantic

With Alec Baldwins Donald Trump nowhere to be seen, Saturday Night Live featured a different cameo during last nights cold open: Michael Keaton, who played the recently arrested Julian Assange. He was joined by Kate McKinnons Lori Loughlin, who interrupted three jailbirds stories of how they ended up behind bars to brag, You think thats insane? I paid $500 grand to get my daughter into USC.

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Met with incredulity by her new cellmates, the former Aunt Becky repeated herself: You heard me. I paid $500 grand to a womens crew coach to say my daughter was good at rowing. Im loco. Loughlin then reminded them that the hefty sum is not even including the $300 grand I blew on tuition before stunning them even further by revealing that, not only is her daughter a Communications major, but shes put that ongoing education to use by becoming, of all things, an Instagram influencer.

You think prison is hard? Ive done 68 Hallmark movies Ive seen hell, man, she said. And in half those Hallmark movies, I marry Santas son, so I have lost all sense of reality. Im gonna take your heart and Im gonna cut it out.

Aunt Becky may be the prisons new kingpin, but she isnt the only high-profile inmate. Pete Davidson is there as Michael Avenatti, but even his crimes cant compare to the craziness of Assanges. Thats right, its me, he said by way of introduction. Im the architect of anarchy. Im the king of chaos. Im the scourge of the cleaning staff at the Ecuadorian embassy.

They arent impressed yet, so he takes it further: Im wanted in the U.S. and Sweden. Im from Australia and I live in London in Ecuador you try figuring that one out. Then the capper: I attacked the U.S. military, bitches. Im an actual James Bond supervillain and Im one step away from destroying the goddam moon! Watch the full skit below.

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SNL Cold Open: Michael Keatons Julian Assange Goes to Jail ...

Julian Assange is facing extradition to the United States and up to five years in prison after he was forcibly dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday, bringing an extraordinary seven-year diplomatic stalemate to an end.

Assange, an Australian citizen, will receive consular assistance on Friday but wont be given any special treatment, the countrys prime minister, Scott Morrison, said. The countrys foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, said officials had been advised that Britain would not agree to extradition if an individual would face the death penalty. Australia is completely opposed to the death penalty and that is a bipartisan position, she said. The matter for the extradition itself is one between the United States and the United Kingdom.

After 2,487 days in the embassy, the 47-year-old was arrested after Ecuador revoked his political asylum and invited Metropolitan police officers inside their Knightsbridge premises, where he has stayed since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations which Assange has always denied.

Later on Thursday, he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court and faces up to 12 months in a British prison.

WikiLeaks releases about 470,000 classified military documents concerning American diplomacy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It later releases a further tranche of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables.

A Swedish prosecutor issues a European arrest warrant for Assange over sexual assault allegations involving two Swedish women. Assange denies the claims.

A British judge rules that Assange can be extradited to Sweden. Assange fears Sweden will hand him over to US authorities who could prosecute him.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says Assange has been 'arbitrarily detained' and should be able to claim compensation from Britain and Sweden. Britain and Sweden rebuff the non-binding ruling.

Assangeis questionedin a two-day interview over the allegations at the Ecuadorian embassy by Swedish authorities.

Nigel Farage is spotted visiting the Ecuadorian embassy.

Britain refuses Ecuador's request to accord Assange diplomatic status, which would allow him to leave the embassy without being arrested.

Police arrest Assange at the embassy after his asylum was withdrawn. Scotland Yard confirmed that Assange was arrested on behalf of the US after receiving a request for his extradition. Assange has been charged by the US with 'a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer.'

At a central London police station, Assange was further arrested at the request of the US seeking his extradition over allegations he conspired with former US military analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases in what the US justice department called one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.

The arrest provoked a fierce debate over Assanges future and possible extradition. While the government defended the arrest over breaching bail as evidence that no-one is above the law, Labour and civil liberties groups condemned the US extradition request.

Assanges lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told the BBCs Newsnight programme her clients arrest set a dangerous precedent that should concern free speech advocates.

In the US, Donald Trump said I know nothing about WikiLeaks, adding, its not my thing. In the final month of the 2016 election, Trump mentioned WikiLeaks 164 times. His opponent in that election, Hillary Clinton, said the WikiLeaks founder needs to answer for what he has done.

Jeremy Corbyn tweeted the extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government.

Freedom of speech advocates including US whistleblower Edward Snowden said that an extradition over the leaks constituted a risk to press freedom. Meanwhile, as others argued that the US charges should be considered separately to the Swedish allegations, prosecutors in Stockholm said that his arrest was news to us.

Events moved at pace as Assange later appeared at Westminster magistrates court to deny failing to surrender to court. Finding him guilty, district judge Michael Snow said his behaviour was the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest. He faces up to 12 months in jail when sentenced, and will face a separate extradition hearing via videolink on 2 May.

The US accuses Assange of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, alleging that he assisted Manning in cracking a password to help her infiltrate Pentagon computers and download material to share with WikiLeaks. If convicted, Assange faces a maximum sentence of five years .

Dramatic footage showed him handcuffed, heavily bearded and with his hair tied back, gesticulating and shouting UK must resist as plainclothes officers carried him from the embassy shortly after 10am to a waiting police van. He was clutching what appeared to be a copy of Gore Vidals History of the National Security State.

One Assange supporter, who witnessed the arrest, said: There were at least six men dragging Julian out and more uniformed police standing by. Julian was talking but he was bundled into a van. He looked dazed.

Westminster magistrates court heard that when police arrived inside the embassy, Assange barged past them in an attempt to return to his private room. He had to be restrained after resisting arrest and claiming this is unlawful.

Judge Michael Snow was highly scathing of Assange, saying His behaviour is that of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests.

Outside court, Robinson said they had warned since 2010 that Assange would face extradition to the US. Unfortunately, today we have been proved right. She said Assange thanked his supporters, and had said: I told you so.

Assange was initially arrested for failing to surrender to the court after losing an appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he faced two separate 2010 sexual assault allegations.

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, lawyer for one of the two women accusers, said they would seek to get the Swedish police investigation re-opened so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape. One of the women told the Guardian she would be very surprised and sad if Assange was extradited to the US. For me this was never about anything else than his misconduct against me and other women, she said.

Theresa May told MPs that she welcomed the arrest: This goes to show that in the United Kingdom, no one is above the law. Downing Street said the prime minister and the government were aware in advance that Ecuador intended to revoke Assanges asylum status. A No 10 spokeswoman said while there had been a dialogue with the Ecuadorian government from the start the decision to revoke asylum was one for them entirely.

Explaining the decision, Ecuadors president, Lenn Moreno, said: In a sovereign decision Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols. He accused Assange of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, and added: The patience of Ecuador has reached its limit.

An arrest warrant for Assange was issued in August 2010 for two separate sexual assault allegations in Sweden. Police questioned him in Stockholm, where he denied the allegations. After returning to the UK, he feared that if he were extradited to Sweden he might be extradited on to the US, where he could face charges over WikiLeaks publication of secret US government files.

In December 2010 he appeared at an extradition hearing in the UK, where he was granted bail. Following a legal battle, the courts ruled Assange should be extradited to Sweden. The WikiLeaks founder entered the Ecuadorian embassy in August 2012. He was granted political asylum, and remained there until his arrest.

In May 2017, Swedish authorities dropped their investigations. However, the British police warrant for his arrest for skipping bail still remained. Lawyers for Assange failed in January 2018 to have the warrant torn up, arguing it had lost its purpose and its function.

Scotland Yard has confirmed that Assange was arrested on behalf of the US after receiving a request for his extradition and the US has charged Assange with 'a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer.'

Jamie Grierson, Home affairs correspondent

The Ecuadorian ambassador to the UK, Jaime Marchan, said: He was continually a problem to us, he was very disrespectful to the authorities, he has said that we were spying on him, he has said we were lying, we were agents of the United States.

However, there was condemnation of the arrest from many quarters. Amnesty International UK said that if Sweden pursues extradition over sexual assault allegations, then assurances should be made over not sending Assange to the US. There is a very real risk that he could face human rights violations due to his work with WikiLeaks, a spokesperson said.

Ecuadors former president, Rafael Correa, accused his successor of being the greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history.

Snowden, the former US government contractor wanted for leaking details of US surveillance programmes, called the arrest a dark moment for press freedom. Meanwhile, actor Pamela Anderson, one of a diverse range of public figures and celebrities to have visited Assange, tweeted that she was in shock, and accused the UK of being Americas bitch and of seeking a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bullshit.

Manning downloaded four databases from US departments and agencies between January and May 2010, the indictment said, with the information provided to WikiLeaks. Some selected and edited material from WikiLeaks was published by the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, El Pas and Der Speigel.

Assanges arrest came one day after WikiLeaks accused the Ecuadorian government of an extensive spying operation against him, during which, it claimed, meeting with lawyers and a doctor inside the embassy over the past year were secretly filmed. Assange supporters reported increased police activity at the embassy last weekend.

Additional reporting: David Crouch in Gothenburg

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Julian Assange faces US extradition after arrest at ...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a hero or criminal, depending on who you ask.We explain. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

Prosecutors in Sweden are considering reopening an investigation into sexual assault allegations against Australian WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange, who was arrested inLondons Ecuadorian Embassy after a seven-year standoff and faces an extradition battle to the United States on acharge of conspiring to reveal government secrets.

Sweden's Deputy Chief ProsecutorEva-Marie Perssonsaid in a statement that her office had received a request late Thursday to resume a rape probe intoAssange from lawyers representing the alleged victim. The case was droppedin 2017 because Assange'sresidencyin theEcuadorian Embassy stymied the investigation.

Assange has always denied the rape allegation.

Separate allegations of sexual assault by Assange, made by a second Swedish woman, were discontinuedby authorities in 2015 after the statute of limitations expired.

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder had a litany of legal issues before London arrest

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The 47-year-old sought refuge in the embassy in 2012 after hewas released on bail in Britain while facing extradition to Sweden in connection with both sets of allegations.

Ecuador granted him asylum in its embassy because Assange feared if he left the compound he faced a separate risk ofbeing arrestedand extraditedto the U.S. for publishingclassified military and diplomatic cables and images through WikiLeaks, a whistleblowing website he co-founded in 2006. In 2010, WikiLeaksreleased video footage allegedly showingU.S. soldiers killing civilians in Iraq.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he was the director of the CIA referred to WikiLeaks as a "non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia."

WikiLeaks published thousands of hacked Democratic Party emails during the 2016 election, although that is not mentioned in Thursday's U.S. indictment.

Julian Assange:WikiLeaks founder, faces US hacking conspiracy charge

Journalist or criminal?:Julian Assangenotorious for leaks of US secrets

Ecuador withdrew its asylum protection for Assange this week and asked British police to arrest him. He is now in custody andfaces a British charge of breaching bail that carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail if convicted. Assange will face a hearing over possible extradition to the U.S. related to the conspiracy charge on May 2.

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Assanges lawyer Jennifer Robinson said that Assange's arrest wasa "free speech issue" and that anyextradition to the U.S."sets a dangerous precedent for all media organizations and journalists," but critics including U.S. federal prosecutors allegethat Assange was involved in a criminal conspiracy that he stole information when he enlisted the help offormer Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 to crack a password on a secret computer network within the Defense Department.

Australia's Prime MinisterScott Morrison said Friday that any extradition plans had "nothing to do with Australia"and that Assange would not get any "special treatment"from its consular officials. He said Assange would have to "make his way through whatever comes his way in terms of the justice system"in foreign jurisdictions.

However, Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne told reporters,respondingto fears from Assanges supporters over his possible punishment in the U.S., that Australia was"completely opposed to the death penalty."She said Britain had sought assurances from the U.S. that Assange would not be exposed to the death penalty if he was extradited. The computer hacking charge Assange faces in the U.S. carries up to five years in prison. It wasn't clear if he would face additional U.S. charges.

Julian Assange:WikiLeaks founder, had a litany of legal issues before London arrest

More: Julian Assange had a cat, and the internet is really worried about its fate

"For me, the key is that this isnt about the Espionage Act, or the publication of classified national security information its not a direct threat to the press," Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor, wrote on Twitter.

Prime Minister Theresa May told British lawmakers on Thursday that Assange's arrest showed that "no-one is above the law," but Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the "extradition of Julian Assange to the U.S. for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government."

Corbyn shared video footage released by WikiLeaks in 2007 that it claimed directly implicated the U.S. military in the killing of civilians and journalists.

Assanges mother Christinetook to Twitter to call for police and prison and court staff to be gentle with her son. She tweeted he had been "8 years detained WITHOUT charge,"and for six years had been "deprived fresh air, exercise, sun,"for three years had been "sick/in pain denied proper medical/dental care"and for one year hed been "isolated/tortured ... Please be patient, gentle & kind to him,"she said.

More: Six big leaks from Julian Assange's WikiLeaks over the years

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Julian Assange: Sweden may reopen rape probe into WikiLeaks ...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for aiding Chelsea Manning in the cracking ofa password to a classified U.S. government computer in 2010, the U.S. Justice Department announced hours after Assange'sarrestin London.

Assange is accused of engaging in a conspiracy with Manning, the former U.S. Army analyst, in breaking a password stored on a U.S. Defense Department computer connected to a U.S. government computer network for classified documents and communications, the Justice Department said. Manning later transmitted a trove of classified government files to Assange, whose website posted the materials to a worldwide audience.Cracking the password allowed Manningto use a different username "rather than her own, officials said.

JULIAN ASSANGE'S ARREST DRAWS FIERCE INTERNATIONAL REACTION

During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Mannings transmission of classified records to Assange, the Justice Department said. The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that after this upload, thats all I really have got left. To which Assange replied, curious eyes never run dry in my experience."

Assange faces a maximum of five years in prison if hes convicted of the charge.

He pleaded innocent to a separate charge of failing to surrender to a Swedish court and skipping bail while in a British courtroom. However, the court found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions

Earlier Thursday,Assange was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in the arms ofBritish police, who arrested him ina dramatic scene that endedAssange's nearly7-year stay at the embassy -- and left the world watching to see if the anti-secrecy site would retaliate.

Moments before the stunning arrest,Ecuador announced it had withdrawn Assange's asylum for repeatedly violating international conventions and protocol.

Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno described the decision to withdraw Assanges asylum as a sovereign decision because of his alleged repeated violations.

Today I announce that the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable, Moreno said in a video statement posted on Twitter.

Video of Assanges arrest showed him with a full white beard, holding an unidentified magazineand yelling something to reporters, thoughit was unclear what he said.

Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Jose Valencia told Teleamazonas this week that living in the embassy indefinitely is bad for Assanges "state of mind, his health, but that Assange has a right to a fair trial and right to a defense.

London's Metropolitan Police vowed earlier this month to arrest the 47-year-old Australian native if he left the embassy. Assange faces possible extradition to the U.S. for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 file photo, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stands on the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy to address waiting supporters and media in London. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

Assange has been in the embassy since 2012 when British courts ordered him extradited to face questioning in a sexual assault case. That matter has since been dropped, but Wikileaks is facing a federal grand jury investigation over its publication of American diplomatic and military secrets during the Iraq War.

WIKILEAKS' JULIAN ASSANGE AT ECUADORIAN EMBASSY IN LONDON TARGET OF 'EXTENSIVE' SPYING OPERATION: GROUP

British police made the announcement of Assanges arrest moments after Ecuador decided to withdraw asylum. Jennifer Robinson, Assanges attorney, said in a tweet Assange was arrested on an extradition request from the U.S. as well as on charges of breaching his bail conditions.

Assange has been arrested not just for breach of bail conditions but also in relation to a US extradition request, Robinson tweeted.

Barry J. Pollack, another attorney for Assange, called his clients arrest at the embassy disappointing.

It is bitterly disappointing that a country would allow someone to whom it has extended citizenship and asylum to be arrested in its embassy. First and foremost, we hope that the UK will now give Mr. Assange access to proper health care, which he has been denied for seven years, the statement said.

Once his health care needs have been addressed, the UK courts will need to resolve what appears to be an unprecedented effort by the United States seeking to extradite a foreign journalist to face criminal charges for publishing truthful information.

The U.S. Justice Department revealed the existence of a sealed criminal case against Assange in a court filing last year. It wasnt clear what he was accused of.

We are aware of the reports that Julian Assange was taken into custody by United Kingdom authorities, Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said.

The arrest drew fierce reaction from people around the world, including WikiLeaks, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Edward Snowden and even Pamela Anderson.

WikiLeaks in a tweet accused Ecuador of illegally terminating Assanges political asylum and accused the country of violating international law.

This man is a son, a father, a brother. He has won dozens of journalism awards. He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 2010. Powerful actors, including CIA, are engaged in a sophisticated effort to dehumanize, delegitimize and imprison him, WikiLeaks wrote.

Snowden, who infamously leaked highly classified NSA information, tweeted Assange's arrest would "going to end upin the history books.

He later tweeted he was shocked about the "weakness" over the U.S. charge.

Anderson, who previously described her romantic relationship with Assange to Fox News last year, blasted Britain and the U.S. in a series of tweets.

I am in shock, Anderson wrote. I couldnt hear clearly what he said? He looks very bad. How could you [Ecuador]? (Because he exposed you).How could you UK. ? Of course - you are Americas b---h and you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit b------t.

PAMELA ANDERSON BLASTS BRITAIN, US AFTER JULIAN ASSANGE ARREST: 'HOW COULD YOU U.K.?'

She added: And the USA? This toxic coward of a President. He needs to rally his base? - You are selfish and cruel. You have taken the entire world backwards. You are devils and liars and thieves. And you will ROTT And WE WILL RISE.

Hunt thanked the Ecuadorean government for cooperating with the arrest.

Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the law. He has hidden from the truth for years," Hunt tweeted. "Thank you Ecuador and President @Lenin Moreno for your cooperation with @foreignoffice to ensure Assange faces justice.

British Prime Minister Theresa May followed Hunt's statement, saying that Assange's arrest proves that "no one is above the law."

Assange had previously held an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity ahead of Trumps inauguration in 2017.

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He argued that the Obama administration was pushing the narrative of Russia meddling in the U.S. election to delegitimize then-President-elect Donald Trump. He also claimed he wasnt the source for the hacked emails he released from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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If Mr. Assange is convicted on the conspiracy to hack offense alone, he could face up to five years in prison. The government could later seek to charge him with additional offenses, but because of extradition practices, any such superseding indictment would most likely need to come soon, before Britain formally decides whether to transfer custody of him.

Until recently, Mr. Assanges Ecuadorean citizenship, granted in 2017, presented a hurdle in President Lenn Morenos efforts to remove him from the embassy. Ecuadors Constitution limits the governments ability to turn over citizens to a foreign justice system, especially if they could face torture or the death penalty, which are outlawed in Ecuador.

The countrys former foreign minister, Mara Fernanda Espinosa, originally granted Mr. Assanges citizenship, citing a policy that allowed certain foreigners under international protection to be naturalized. She argued that Mr. Assanges refuge at the embassy was a case that qualified.

However, on Thursday, Ecuadors current foreign minister, Jos Valencia, said Mr. Assanges citizenship had been suspended because of irregularities, opening the door for him to be handed to the British authorities.

Mr. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced questions about sexual assault accusations, which he has denied. Sweden rescinded its arrest warrant for Mr. Assange in 2017, but he refused to leave the embassy.

Under a previous president, Ecuador had offered Mr. Assange citizenship and open-ended refuge in its embassy. But its government soured on the relationship as the years kept passing, and it eventually began to impose limits on what Mr. Assange could say and do.

The Ecuadorean government said last year that it had cut off Mr. Assanges internet access, saying that he had violated an agreement to stop commenting on, or trying to influence, the politics of other countries. The government also imposed other restrictions, like limiting his visitors. He sued in October, claiming that it was violating his rights.

On Thursday, Mr. Moreno, who became Ecuadors president in 2017, said on Twitter that his country had decided to stop sheltering Mr. Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols.

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Julian Assange Arrested in London as U.S. Unseals Hacking ...

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Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

At Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court.

He now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange, in response to allegations by the Department for Justice that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in US prison if convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said they would be fighting the extradition request. She said it set a "dangerous precedent" where any journalist could face US charges for "publishing truthful information about the United States".

She said she had visited Assange in the police cells where he thanked supporters and said: "I told you so."

Assange had predicted that he would face extradition to the US if he left the embassy.

After his arrest, the 47-year-old Australian national was initially taken to a central London police station before appearing in court.

Dressed in a black suit and black polo shirt, he waved to the public gallery and gave a thumbs up. He pleaded not guilty to the 2012 charge of failing to surrender to the court.

Finding him guilty of that charge, District Judge Michael Snow said Assange's behaviour was "the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest".

He sent him to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing, where he faces up to 12 months in prison.

The court also heard that during his arrest at the embassy he had to be restrained and shouted: "This is unlawful, I am not leaving."

Assange set up Wikileaks in 2006 with the aim of obtaining and publishing confidential documents and images.

The organisation hit the headlines four years later when it released footage of US soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.

Former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000 confidential documents, videos and diplomatic cables to the anti-secrecy website.

She said she only did so to spark debates about foreign policy, but US officials said the leak put lives at risk.

She was found guilty by a court martial in 2013 of charges including espionage. However, her jail sentence was later commuted.

Manning was recently jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into Wikileaks' role in revealing the secret files.

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The indictment against Assange, issued last year in the state of Virginia, alleges that he conspired in 2010 with Manning to access classified information on Department of Defense computers. He faces up to five years in jail.

Manning downloaded four databases from US departments and agencies between January and May 2010, the indictment says. This information, much of which was classified, was provided to Wikileaks.

The US Justice Department described it as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".

Cracking a password stored on the computers, the indictment alleges, would have allowed Manning to log on to them in such a way as to make it harder for investigators to determine the source of the disclosures. It is unclear whether the password was actually broken.

Correspondents say the narrowness of the charge seems intended to avoid falling foul of the US Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.

The Wikileaks co-founder had been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, after seeking asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation.

The investigation into the alleged rape, which he denied, was later dropped because he had evaded the arrest warrant. The Swedish Prosecution Authority has said it is now considering whether to resume the inquiry before the statute of limitations runs out in August 2020.

Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy on Thursday by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.

Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno said the country had "reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange".

Mr Moreno said: "The most recent incident occurred in January 2019, when Wikileaks leaked Vatican documents.

"This and other publications have confirmed the world's suspicion that Mr Assange is still linked to WikiLeaks and therefore involved in interfering in internal affairs of other states."

His accusations against Assange also included blocking security cameras at the embassy, accessing security files and confronting guards.

Mr Moreno said the British government had confirmed in writing that Assange "would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty".

The arrest comes a day after Wikileaks said it had uncovered an extensive spying operation against its co-founder at the Ecuadorian embassy.

There has been a long-running dispute between the Ecuadorian authorities and Assange about what he was and was not allowed to do in the embassy.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale said that over the years they had removed his access to the internet and accused him of engaging in political activities - which is not allowed when claiming asylum.

He said: "Precisely what has happened in the embassy is not clear - there has been claim and counter claim."

Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons: "This goes to show that in the UK, no one is above the law."

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the arrest was the result of "years of careful diplomacy" and that it was "not acceptable" for someone to "escape facing justice".

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Assange had revealed "evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan" and his extradition "should be opposed by the British government".

Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders said that the UK should resist extradition, because it would "set a dangerous precedent for journalists, whistleblowers, and other journalistic sources that the US may wish to pursue in the future".

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said he would continue to receive "the usual consular support" and that consular officers will try to visit him.

And actress Pamela Anderson, who has visited the embassy to support Assange, said the arrest was a "vile injustice".

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Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London - BBC ...

The spectacle of Julian Assange, bearded and haggard, resisting arrest while London police officers dragged him through the street, punctuated the end of seven confounding years inside the Ecuadorean Embassy, where he lived with his cat in a small corner room as the worlds most famous self-proclaimed political refugee.

Mr. Assange, 47, has long fashioned himself as a crusader for revealing secrets. The internet group he founded, WikiLeaks, published caches of classified American government communications, as well as emails hacked by Russian intelligence clearly intended to damage the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

Though arrested Thursday morning by the British for skipping bail, Mr. Assange was immediately charged in the United States for conspiracy to hack a government computer.

To supporters, Mr. Assange was a martyr and champion of free speech. To the United States government, he was a pariah and a lackey of the Kremlin. But it was the hardened opinion of Ecuadors government that perhaps mattered most.

He had become an unwanted houseguest.

At the tiny red-brick embassy, he continued to run his internet group, conducted news conferences before hundreds of fawning admirers from a balcony, rode his skateboard in the halls, and played host to a parade of visitors, including Lady Gaga and Pamela Anderson, a rumored lover who brought vegan sandwiches.

On Thursday, Ms. Anderson sent out a batch of Twitter messages attacking the arrest as a vile injustice and called Britain and the United States devils and liars and thieves.

In interviews with The New York Times in 2016, as part of a long look at his ties to Russia, Mr. Assange denied any link to Russian intelligence, in particular regarding the leaked Democratic emails. Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats were whipping up a neo-McCarthyist hysteria about Russia, he said. There is no concrete evidence that what WikiLeaks publishes comes from intelligence agencies, he said, even as he indicated that he would happily accept such material.

Small as they were, Mr. Assanges living quarters at the embassy, close to the lavish self-indulgence of Harrods, the famous department store, did not cramp his desire to remain in the limelight.

Mr. Assange had an office equipped with a bed, sunlamp, phone, computer, kitchenette, shower, treadmill and bookshelves. Three years ago, one person familiar with the setup called it a gas station with two attendants.

Vaughan Smith, who had been a longtime supporter of Mr. Assange and helped put up his bail money, said that Julians a big bloke, with big bones, and he fills the room physically and intellectually.

Its a tiny embassy with a tiny balcony, he added, small, hot and with not great air flow, and it must be jolly difficult for everyone there.

But from there, Mr. Assange for years held court for admirers and famous curiosity seekers, among them the soccer star Eric Cantona, and Nigel Farage, the pro-Brexit radio host and former head of U.K. Independence Party.

Still, Mr. Assanges isolation was wearing on him, a friend said on Thursday, especially the long, lonely weekends in an essentially empty embassy he could not leave.

Even his friends have described him as difficult, a narcissist with an outsized view of his importance and a disinterest in mundane matters like personal hygiene.

He was becoming deeply depressed and wondered about simply walking out, the friend said, speaking on condition of anonymity. And relations with his hosts were becoming deeply strained, even adversarial.

A copy of a 2014 letter from Juan Falcon Puig, then Ecuadors ambassador to Britain, to the Foreign Ministry, seen by The New York Times, outlined the growing resentment between the diplomats and Mr. Assange over his behavior at the embassy.

Among Mr. Falcons top concerns was Mr. Assanges penchant for riding a skateboard and playing soccer with visitors. His skateboarding, Mr. Falcon said, had damaged floors, walls and doors.

The ambassador said the soccer games had destroyed embassy equipment. When an embassy security agent stopped the game and took away the ball, Mr. Assange began to shake, insult and push the agent, reclaimed the ball and then launched the ball at his body.

The letter said Mr. Assange had invited a television reporter to interview them at the embassy and had showed the visitor off-limits parts of the building.

At one point, according to the letter, Mr. Assange used the alarm setting on a megaphone to attract the police to record them for the show.

This last action, in the middle of the night, was a clear attempt to annoy the police, Mr. Falcon wrote.

Another time, the letter said, Mr. Assange violently hit the embassy control room door demanding in a threatening manner that one of the guards come out to speak to him.

The guards came out, only to be harassed by Mr. Assange, who yelled and shoved them, Mr. Falcon wrote.

Mr. Assanges long presence in the embassy, long after the Ecuadorean president who granted him political asylum had been replaced, finally became too much for the Ecuadorean government. President Lenin Moreno, elected in 2017, explained the decision on Twitter and in a video.

In a sovereign decision Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols, he said.

He accused Mr. Assange of having installed forbidden electronic and distortion equipment, accessing the embassys security files without permission, blocking the embassys security cameras and mistreating its personnel, including guards.

In March of last year, the Ecuadorean government severed his internet access, saying that he had violated an agreement to stop commenting on, or trying to influence, the politics of other countries.

The government also limited his visitors and required him to clean his bathroom and look after his cat. Mr. Assange then sued the Ecuadorean government in October, claiming that it was violating his rights.

He hired the Spanish human rights jurist, Baltasar Garzn, who filed suit against the Ecuadorean government in its own courts, saying Mr. Assanges rights were violated. He also filed a second complaint with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, an international body that mediates rights issues.

Both cases were rejected by officials, and further angered Mr. Morenos government.

A recent leak of papers last month related to Mr. Moreno, which the government blamed on WikiLeaks, further angered officials before Mr. Assanges eviction. The vast trove of emails, text messages and photos were known in Ecuador as the INA papers, named after a company linked to the presidents brother.

The leaked papers, first published by an independent Ecuadorean news site, described an extravagant life of the president and his family that included lavish dinners, expensive watches and trips around the world.

They included text messages between the presidents wife telling friends about family trips to Switzerland and New York and private pictures of Mr. Moreno, including one of him in a hotel room bed with a lobster meal. WikiLeaks denied involvement in the leaks, though it promoted the story on its Twitter site.

Days later, Mr. Moreno said that Mr. Assange had repeatedly violated the terms of his asylum and that Mr. Assange could not hack private accounts or phones.

Finally, Mr. Moreno said in his statement announcing the withdrawal of asylum, two days ago, WikiLeaks, Mr. Assanges allied organization, threatened the government of Ecuador. My government has nothing to fear and does not act under threats.

Mr. Moreno appeared to be referring to an effort by WikiLeaks to reveal the scale of surveillance of Mr. Assange within the embassy.

The editor in chief of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson, charged in a news conference this week that there had been extensive spying on Mr. Assange, and that Ecuador was part of a plot to extradite him to the United States.

What we have established is security has monitored his every move and every meeting with visitors, Mr. Hrafnsson said. We also know there was a request to hand over visit logs and video recordings from within the embassy.

We believe this has been handed over to the Trump administration, Mr. Hrafnsson added.

Mr. Hrafnsson also charged that the spying was part of a 3 million-euro extortion plot against Mr. Assange involving sex tapes.

The British police arrested Mr. Assange on Thursday on charges that he had jumped bail after his initial arrest in 2010 on a Swedish warrant.

The Swedes had wanted to question Mr. Assange on allegations of sexual misconduct and rape; in June 2012, Mr. Assange, even then fearing extradition to the United States, left his backers to lose their bail money while he successfully sought political asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy.

Only in May 2017, after many attempts to secure Mr. Assange and finally interview him on those charges, did Sweden give up and drop its arrest warrant.

Mr. Assange also gradually offended some of his early supporters, like Edward Snowden and the heiress Jemima Goldsmith Khan. He suffered from vitamin D deficiency, dental problems and depression. For some, he became a sort of joke, and many mocked his fear of extradition.

But there were times when thousands of supporters cheered Mr. Assanges work and what many considered his martyrdom in the name of individual rights and internet freedom. Hundreds would sometimes gather outside the embassy, to hear Mr. Assange address them from that tiny balcony.

British police officers arrived Thursday about 9:15 a.m. at the embassy, where the ambassador offered to serve Mr. Assange documentation revoking his asylum. He didnt go easily.

He resisted arrest and had to be restrained by officers, who struggled to handcuff him and received assistance from officers outside the embassy.

This is unlawful, Im not leaving, he told them, according to the account given at the Westminster Magistrates Court, where Mr. Assange later appeared, his silver hair tied in a bun, his tight lips visible behind a long, white beard, and looking composed in a navy suit.

Outside the court, a flock of cameras were pointing toward the guarded entrance, and a group of protesters chanted feebly Free, free, free Assange.

After Mr. Assange took his seat in court, a supporter wearing a scruffy fluorescent jacket gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the public gallery.

Mr. Assange turned his head clinically toward the gallery, raised his arm, and returned the gesture.

While awaiting the lawyers to enter, Mr. Assange read from a book, which he raised for the media to see: History of the National Security State, by Gore Vidal.

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