Julian Assange Travesty of Justice
https://inltv.co.uk/index.php/julianassange-travestyofjustice
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WikiLeaks releases files claiming MI5 and CIA hacked TVs
and used them as bugs
iPhones, iPads, Android devices and Microsoft Windows systems were also allegedly targeted by spies, claims WikiLeaks.
By Adam Parris-Long and Andy Hayes, News Reporters
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/cia-cyber-documents-published-by-wikileaks-10793709
MI5 and the CIA colluded to develop viruses to turn Samsung smart TVs into household bugs, according to "leaked" intelligence documents published by WikiLeaks.
The documents - said to have come from the CIA's Centre for Cyber Intelligence - allegedly show that a CIA branch worked with MI5 on a project to "infest smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones".
The so-called "weeping angel" programme would trick users into thinking their TV was off when it was actually on, it is claimed.
WikiLeaks says the documents show smart TVs were then used as a bug "recording conversations in the room and sending them over the internet to a covert CIA server".
The WikiLeaks release appears to give an eye-opening look at CIA documents
Mr Blakey Says He Does Not Trust The CIA To Tell The Truth Part A
How Heroin Defeated America In Afghanistan - The War On Drug
The CIA’s Paul Helliwell with the CIA’s Michael Hand (mid) and Frank Nugan (Right) of the Nugan Hand Bank a laundromat for CA heroin Profits.
Small Picture Left:
Former CIA director, vice president, and chief U.S. drug trafficking “fighter! George H.W, Bus with Panama’s Noriega, a decade long CIA asset and Medelli Cartel-allied cocaine exporter to the U.S until be became too much of a liability in 1989
Small Picture Right:
Seizure in Mexica of cartel weapons and drugs
A History of CIA Drug Trafficking:
How Drug Cartels and Drug-Dealing Death Squads have been the CIA's Best Friends For Many Decades
By Joel van der Reiden 19th August 2020
From left to right:
John Hull, Barry Seal, Adolfo Calero, Colonel Enrique Bermudes, and Manuel Noriega with Mike Haran
https://isgp-studies.com/cia-heroin-and-cocaine-drug-trafficking#intro
The global drug trade is controlled and run by the intelligence agencies CIA Mosaad MI5- MI6
James Casbolt has worked for MI6 'black ops' cocaine trafficking IRA Mossad – London & Brighton
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 1
LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 2
LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 3
LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 4
LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 5
LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 6
LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 7
Mike Ruppert-The CIA Drug Running Part 10 of 11
CIA Drug Running - Mike Ruppert Prt 11
John Stockwell Former CIA Agent Lecture Part 1
John Stockwell Former CIA Agent Lecture Part 2
John Stockwell Former CIA Agent Lecture Part 3
CIA's Nugan Hand Bank Part 1
CIA's Nugan Hand Bank Partying Falcon's Trip -
The Rio Grande And The Mediteranean Connection Part 2
CIA's Nugan Hand Bank Partying Falcon's Trip -
The Rio Grande And The Mediteranean Connection Part 3
CIA's Secret War In Laos Documentary -
Laotian Civil War And U.S. Government Involvement
CIA's Secret War 8mm HOME MOVIES From The Secret War In Laos
CIA's Most Secret Place On Earth-
Julian Assange extradition ruling labelled a ‘travesty of justice’
Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision,
which it said will prove historic ‘for all the wrong reasons’
Julian Assange's Fiancée Stella Morris Says
"She Dreaded Going Public With Their Relationship"
Pamela Anderson speaks on-Julian Assange's imprisonment
Julian Assange Being Dragged From
The Ecuadorean Embassy In London 11 April 2019
Julian Assange’s Extradition Case is a SHOW TRIAL - John Pilger
"Julian Assange: High Court reverses decision
not to extradite WikiLeaks founder to the US
| UK News | Sky News"
CIA Mind Control -CIA Secret Experiments
CIA Hitman Man in Black Joseph Spencer CIA Whistleblower Speaks Out
This video is of a CIA Whistleblower, Joseph Spencer ,
who was a Man In Black operating as a Hitman for the CIA
Bill Gates was a senior C.I.A Officer
Was Michael C. Rupert Murdered?
https://isgp-studies.com/cia-heroin-and-cocaine-drug-trafficking#michael-ruppert-cia-drug-trafficking
This question remains. There is every reason that many powerful groups and people including the CIA would have been keen to see the end of Michael Rupert because he was constantly exposing the CIA's involvement in the distribution of illegal drugs, which Michael Rupert sated was a multi trillion dollar industry. Michael Rupert claimed that if all the illegal drug proceeds where withdrawn from the major banks around the world, this would cause a major depression in the world economy.
Michael Rupert also outed Bill Gates as a senior C.I.A Officer
http://youtubeexposed.com/index.php/cia-illegal-activities-exposed
Also See
https://inltv.co.uk/index.php/cia-mkultrabrainwashing-drugs-mafia
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 2
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 3
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 4
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 5
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 6
CIA-LAPD's Involvement In the Illegal Drug Trade
talk by Former Los Angeles Drug Investigator Mike Rupert Part 7
Julian Assange Wikileaks Founder Fronts London Court Part 1
Julian Assange Wikileaks Founder Fronts London Court Part 2
Crowd Protests Outside London Court Against Julian Assange
High Court Ruling To Approve His USA Extradition Part 1
Crowd Protests Outside London Court Against Julian Assange
High Court Ruling To Approve His USA Extradition Part 2
Julian Assange extradition ruling labelled a ‘travesty of justice’
’ | The Independent"
Julian Assange George Galloway Oxford Union
Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, which it said will prove historic ‘for all the wrong reasons’.
Human rights and press freedom groups have condemned a High Court ruling that Julian Assange can be extradited to the US as a “travesty of justice” and “hammer-blow to free expression”.
Responding to the decision on Friday, Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said: “We condemn today’s decision, which will prove historic for all the wrong reasons.
“We fully believe that Julian Assange has been targeted for his contributions to journalism, and we defend this case because of its dangerous implications for the future of journalism and press freedom around the world.
“It is time to put a stop to this more than decade-long persecution once and for all. It is time to free Assange.”
Nils Muiznieks, Amnesty
“By allowing this appeal, the High Court has chosen to accept the deeply flawed diplomatic assurances given by the US that Assange would not be held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison.
“The fact that the US has reserved the right to change its mind at any time means that these assurances are not worth the paper they are written on.”
He added: “If extradited to the US, Julian Assange could not only face trial on charges under the Espionage Act but also a real risk of serious human rights violations due to detention conditions that could amount to torture or other ill-treatment.
“The US government’s indictment poses a grave threat to press freedom both in the United States and abroad. If upheld, it would undermine the key role of journalists and publishers in scrutinising governments and exposing their misdeeds would leave journalists everywhere looking over their shoulders.”
Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said that for Assange to be extradited “to answer charges for cultivating a source and encouraging the revelation of criminality” would be “a hammer-blow to free expression”.
She continued: “Any journalist who thought they might upset a US administration will reasonably fear that they too could be targeted by a judicial snatch squad.
“When the freedom of our judiciary is under threat, it is disappointing that senior judges should buckle in the face of such unconvincing US blandishments.”
Trevor Timm, executive director of the US non-profit Freedom of the Press Foundation, labelled the High Court ruling as “a black mark on the history of press freedom”.
He added: “That United States prosecutors continued to push for this outcome is a betrayal of the journalistic principles the Biden administration has taken credit for celebrating.
“As brave whistleblowers have explained for decades, this kind of abuse of the Espionage Act against sources — and now journalists and publishers — is an embarrassment to basic ideals of justice and to core First Amendment values.”
Julian Assange Indictment Criminalizes The News Gathering Process
-Says Pentagon Papers Lawyer
More about
PA ReadyJulian AssangeReporters Without BordersHuman RightsACLUNUJHigh CourtCoalitionWikiLeaksAmnestyJulian Assange: High Court reverses decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder to the US
Julian Assange's fiancee, Stella Moris, has indicated that the decision will be appealed and described the ruling goes against "fundamentals of press freedom and democracy".
By Amar Mehta, News reporter @Amarjournalist_
Friday 10 December 2021 14:08, UK
The High Court has reversed a decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US, where he is wanted for publishing classified documents.
Mr Assange, 50, is wanted in America over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information after WikiLeak's publication of several hundred leaked documents relating to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
US authorities brought a High Court challenge against a January ruling by then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser, who ruled that Mr Assange should not be sent to the US, in which she cited a real and "oppressive" risk of suicide.
Julian Assange's Fiancée Stella Morris Says
She Dreaded Going Public With Their Relationship
Stella Moris, Mr Assange's fiancee, said his team will appeal the rulingLord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Lord Justice Holroyde have now ruled in favour of the US.
Responding to the decision, Stella Moris, Mr Assange's fiancee, said: "We will appeal this decision at the earliest possible moment."
Speaking outside the High Court, a visibly emotional Ms Moris said: "For the past two and a half years, Julian has remained in Belmarsh Prison and, in fact, he has been detained since 7 December 2010 in one form or another.
"For how long can this go on?"
"How can these courts approve an extradition request under these conditions?" she added. "How can they accept an extradition to the country that plotted to kill Julian? This goes to the fundamentals of press freedom and democracy."
Ms Moris added her finance represents what it "means to live in a free society" and accused the UK of imprisoning journalists "on behalf of a foreign power".
US argued Assange would not face strict measures
The senior judges found that Ms Baraitser had based her decision on the risk of Mr Assange being held in highly restrictive prison conditions if extradited.
However, US authorities later gave assurances that he would not face those strictest measures either pre-trial or post-conviction unless he committed an act in the future that required them.
Lord Burnett said: "That risk is in our judgment excluded by the assurances which are offered. It follows that we are satisfied that, if the assurances had been before the judge, she would have answered the relevant question differently."
James Lewis QC, representing the US, said the district judge based her decision on Mr Assange's "intellectual ability to circumvent suicide preventative measures", and argued Mr Assange's health is well enough for extradition.
Assange's lawyers oppose ruling
Lawyers representing Mr Assange had argued that the assurances over his potential treatment were "meaningless" and "vague".
Mr Assange's legal team have stated they will be seeking to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, and have 14 days to file an application.
The court also heard that Assange had faced a "menacing, threatening and frightening" situation while under surveillance when he lived at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Mr Assange has been held in Belmarsh Prison since 2019 after he was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy by police before being arrested for breaching his bail conditions.
He had been living in the embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were eventually dropped.
"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to U.S. to face spying charges, U.K. appeal court rules - CBS News" https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/
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WikiLeaks releases files claiming MI5 and CIA hacked TVs and used them as bugs
iPhones, iPads, Android devices and Microsoft Windows systems were also allegedly targeted by spies, claims WikiLeaks.
By Adam Parris-Long and Andy Hayes, News Reporters
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/cia-cyber-documents-published-by-wikileaks-10793709
MI5 and the CIA colluded to develop viruses to turn Samsung smart TVs into household bugs, according to "leaked" intelligence documents published by WikiLeaks.
The documents - said to have come from the CIA's Centre for Cyber Intelligence - allegedly show that a CIA branch worked with MI5 on a project to "infest smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones".
The so-called "weeping angel" programme would trick users into thinking their TV was off when it was actually on, it is claimed.
WikiLeaks says the documents show smart TVs were then used as a bug "recording conversations in the room and sending them over the internet to a covert CIA server".
It is claimed a different CIA unit produced malware to "infest, control and exfiltrate" data from iPhones and iPads, while a similar team is said to target Google's Android operating system - allowing agents to "bypass" the encryption of messaging apps like Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
:: What is in WikiLeaks' 'Vault 7' release of 'CIA' documents?
WikiLeaks adds that the US intelligence agency "runs a very substantial effort to infect and control Microsoft Windows users with its malware".
Meanwhile, it is also alleged the CIA looked into "infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks", allowing it to "engage in nearly undetectable assassinations".
The CIA said it would not comment "on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents".
WikiLeaks says it obtained the "Vault 7" collection of 8,761 documents and files after they were circulated among former US government hackers and contractors "in an unauthorised manner".
It added that "Vault 7" is the largest intelligence leak in the CIA's history which shows the "scope and direction" of the agency's "global covert hacking programme".
In a statement, WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange described the spread of cyber weapons as an "extreme risk".
He said: "Comparisons can be drawn between the uncontrolled proliferation of such 'weapons', which results from the inability to contain them combined with their high market value, and the global arms trade."
WikiLeaks and its allies have embarrassed Washington before.
Previous releases of classified material have included hundreds of thousands of documents from the Pentagon and the State Department.
WikiLeaks describes its latest release of files allegedly obtained from the CIA as the largest ever publication of confidential documents in the agency's history.
But what is in it? Here is a quick digest of the documents according to the website's report.
Disclaimer: Although WikiLeaks has proven to provide legitimate resources, the latest "leak" has not yet been confirmed to be true by US security services or other organisations involved.
Equally, the claimed provenance of the "leaks" coming from within the CIA HQ in Langley, Virginia, may be bogus. Russian intelligence have form for feeding WikiLeaks data.
WikiLeaks has called the release "Vault 7", "Part 1", and "Year Zero" - which implies it is planning on releasing further information. In their words the "leak" is a "substantial collection of material about CIA activities obtained by Wikileaks".
In total, it contains 8,761 documents and files which allegedly detail CIA hacking practices between 2013 and 2016.
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Wikileaks: Julian Assange given permission to marry partner in prison
Julian Assange has been granted permission to marry his partner Stella Morris in Belmarsh prison, the BBC has been told.
Julian Assange's Fiancée Stella Morris Says
"She Dreaded Going Public With Their Relationship"
The Wikileaks founder and Ms Moris have two sons together, who she said were conceived while he was living inside London's Ecuadorean embassy.
The prison service said Mr Assange's application was "considered in the usual way by the prison governor".
Ms Moris told PA she was "relieved that reason [had] prevailed".
She added: "I hope there will be no further interference with our marriage."
Inmates are entitled to apply to be married in prison under the Marriages Act 1983 and where applications are granted, they must meet the full costs of the marriage, with no taxpayer help.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday last year, Ms Moris, a South African-born lawyer, revealed that she had been in a relationship with Mr Assange since 2015 and had been raising their two young sons on her own.
In a video posted on Wikileaks' YouTube account, she said she had met Mr Assange in 2011 when she joined his legal team.
Ms Morris added that she had visited him in the embassy almost every day and had "got to know Julian very well".
The couple fell in love in 2015 and got engaged two years later.
Ms Morris said that Mr Assange had watched both boys being born via video link and they had visited their father at the embassy.
Mr Assange, 50, continues to fight extradition to the US on espionage charges.
He is wanted in the US on allegations of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, following Wikileaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The publications include the release in April 2010 of footage showing US soldiers shooting and killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
The Australian has been in Belmarsh Prison since 2019, when he was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London by police and arrested for breaching his bail conditions.
He had been in the embassy since 2012, avoiding extradition to Sweden, where he faced sex offence allegations. He has always denied those and they were eventually dropped.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Mr Assange's application was received, considered and processed in the usual way by the prison governor, as for any other prisoner.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to U.S. to face spying charges, U.K. appeal court rules
UPDATED ON: DECEMBER 10, 2021 / 9:15 AM / CBS/AP
London — A British appellate court opened the door Friday for Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States by overturning a lower court ruling that found the WikiLeaks founder's mental health was too fragile to withstand the American criminal justice system.
The High Court in London ruled that U.S. assurances were enough to guarantee Assange would be treated humanely and directed a lower court judge to send the extradition request to the home secretary for review. The home secretary, who oversees law enforcement in the U.K., will make the final decision on whether to extradite Assange.
But Assange's fiance, Stella Moris, said the ruling would be appealed "at the earliest possible moment," according to the Reuters news service.
Click here to view related media.Assange wasn't in court, Reuters added. He denies any wrongdoing.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London in January 2020
The Press Association, a British news agency, quoted Moris as assailing the court's reasoning. She said, "I want to emphasize that the High Court accepted all the medical evidence and the conclusions of the magistrate that if Julian is extradited and placed under extreme conditions of isolation, it will drive him to take his own life -- that extradition is oppressive.
"Yet the High Court decided against Julian on this occasion on the basis of political assurances, non-assurances, that the U.S. has given to the U.K. government. "I say non-assurances -- Amnesty International says non-assurances -- Amnesty International has analyzed these assurances and has said that they are inherently unreliable.
"They incorporate the possibility of breaking those assurances in their very wording."
A lower court judge earlier this year refused an American request to extradite Assange to face spying charges over WikiLeaks' publication of secret military documents a decade ago. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied extradition on health grounds, saying Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.
In appealing that decision at the High Court in London, an attorney for the U.S. government denied that Assange's mental health was too fragile to withstand the U.S. judicial system. Lawyer James Lewis said Assange "has no history of serious and enduring mental illness" and doesn't meet the threshold of being so ill that he can't resist harming himself.
U.S. authorities have also told British judges that if the judges agree to let Assange be extradited, he could serve any U.S. prison sentence he receives in his native Australia.
U.S. prosecutors indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks' publication of thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, although Lewis said "the longest sentence ever imposed for this offense is 63 months."
The classified military documents concerned the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Assange, 50, is being held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison.
The case "has become a cause celebre for free speech," Agence France-Presse points out, with Assange's backers asserting WikiLeaks has the same rights as other media outlets to publish secret material in the public interest.
Assange backers outside the court demanded his immediate release from Belmarsh, AFP added.
UK High Court orders Assange extradited: A pseudo-legal travesty
Yesterday’s order by the UK High Court that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States is a disgusting travesty of justice.
The ruling is the outcome of a 10-year-long political conspiracy by the United States, the UK, Australia, and Sweden to persecute a courageous journalist who exposed the crimes carried out by the imperialist governments during the murderous invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Upholding an appeal made by the US government, Lord Burnett of Maldon, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and Lord Justice Holroyde ruled that the lower court ought to have afforded the US “the opportunity to offer assurances” about Assange’s treatment. The judges accepted that the assurances now provided—by a state which, they were told in the appeal hearing, plotted Assange’s “assassination, kidnap, rendering poisoning”—were “sufficient to meet the concerns” about his well-being.
With this judgement, the UK judiciary has laid bare its function as a compliant instrument of the British state, prepared to rubber-stamp a campaign of staggering criminality with devastating anti-democratic implications.
Assange’s lawyers rubbished the US “assurances” as nothing of the sort, providing extensive evidence of his illegal targeting by the CIA, including a highly credible investigation by Yahoo! News and an ongoing criminal investigation in Spain that his kidnap and murder was planned at the highest levels of government.
The High Court referenced these arguments before ruling, “General statements of opinion calling into question the good faith of the USA from those who establish no relevant expertise to give such an opinion are of no more value than a journalistic opinion culled from an internet search.”
The judges continued, “The reality is that this court is being invited to reject the USA’s assurances either on the basis that they are not offered in good faith or that they are for some other reason not capable of being accepted at face value. That is a serious allegation, particularly bearing in mind that the United Kingdom and the USA have a long history of cooperation in extradition matters…”
They conclude, “There is no reason why this court should not accept the assurances as meaning what they say.”
In other words, the court was not in the slightest concerned with Assange’s clearly abused legal and democratic rights, but with furthering the interests and relationship of British and American imperialism. It has now delivered a ruling which threatens the WikiLeaks founder with life imprisonment or death for exposing the war crimes and other atrocities of the ruling class and paves the way for a sweeping assault on free speech.
Assange’s extradition could now be imminent. No confidence should be placed in his securing an appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court or the European Court. The wheels of a 10-year rendition operation, which has seen Assange arbitrarily detained, spied on, stolen from, seized from a foreign embassy, stripped of his Ecuadorian asylum and citizenship, psychologically tortured, subject to vindictive sentences and held on remand without charge for years in a maximum-security prison, are once again in motion.
Even if an appeal is accepted, an exclusively legal path to freedom at best means Assange’s continued imprisonment in Belmarsh under the same intolerable conditions he has now suffered for more than two-and-a-half years .
This fate was handed down by the High Court as Assange’s persecutor-in-chief, President Joe Biden, hosted a “Summit for Democracy,” attended by a gang of mass murderers including Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and Jair Bolsanaro of Brazil, which announced a $3.5 million Journalism Protection Platform to “provide at-risk journalists with digital and physical security training, psychosocial care, legal aid, and other forms of assistance.”
In the UK on the same day, the House of Lords held a debate on the importance of freedom of speech which did not mention Assange once.
The vile hypocrisy of the US and British ruling class will not shock the broad mass of the population, which views its rotten governments with justly deserved contempt. The question they will be asking is not “How could they do this?” but “How could they get away with it?” and “What must be done to stop them?”
Any answer must begin with a serious political appraisal of events to this point. Until now, the fight for Assange’s freedom has been left in the hands of an official campaign centred on the pursuit of justice through the courts and appeals on this basis to the tired ranks of the labour bureaucracy and liberal and right-wing libertarian great and good. This perspective has proved disastrous.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs have been fêted as among the foremost champions of Assange’s cause. But their support, limited to the last two years, has consisted of little more than concerned tweets, pleas to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and sermons on British justice. Corbyn’s single insipid tweet delivered seven hours after the judgement yesterday, “Julian Assange should not be extradited for revealing uncomfortable truths,” only drew attention to their inaction.
Similar store has been put in the 11th hour turn by the media to formally oppose Assange’s extradition. But the truth is that whatever hand-wringing editorials and opinion columns these organisations can bring themselves to publish, the sentiment in the editorial offices of the Guardian and the New York Times will be one of smirking satisfaction. They spent years paving the way for yesterday’s verdict. They will now hope that Assange, who threatened to upset their cosy relationship with their respective ruling classes, can at last be put out of mind.
It should be noted that the Guardian kept a report of the verdict, the most consequential in the history of journalism for half a century, on its front page for only a few hours before relegating it to an “Around the world” section way down the page, placed below “From the UK.”
The Guardian and company’s switch to token support for Assange came only once his case was safely confined to the court system, after they had spent years pursuing a slander campaign designed to isolate him from the decisive factor in securing his freedom: the mass support for WikiLeaks in the global population.
Efforts to turn Assange into a pariah were variously supported or left unopposed by the organisations of the international pseudo-left. Among them was the UK group Counterfire, whose leading member John Rees now heads the Don’t Extradite Assange group. The official campaign’s entire orientation is to these current or former participants in the criminal enterprise against Assange, to a social layer which provides no constituency for democratic rights and the fight to defend them.
That fight depends on the international working class, which is coming into ever more open conflict with a capitalist social order on a forced march to dictatorship and war. A series of major strikes, often mounted in a direct opposition to the trade union bureaucracy’s efforts to impose company-authored contracts, mark a dramatic shift in the global situation since the campaign to silence Assange began.
The pandemic, the intensified exploitation of the working population to make good the windfall orchestrated by the oligarchy on a mountain of corpses, and the drive to war with nuclear armed powers Russia and China threatening millions more, are driving forward an escalating wave of class struggle.
It is to this enormous social force that the campaign to free Assange must turn. His cause must be made a watchword of the independent political movement of the working class now finding expression in the formation of rank-and-file committees across the globe. This movement will rally behind it all progressive social forces, including sections of the middle classes and professionals. The World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Parties will carry forward this struggle.
Julian Assange: A timeline of Wikileaks founder's case - BBC News
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is currently jailed in the UK, and is fighting extradition to the United States on espionage charges.
The 48-year-old Australian was arrested in April 2019 at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he had been staying since 2012.
He sought asylum at the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation that he denied.
After his arrest, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions and is currently being held at Belmarsh prison in London.
An investigation into the 2010 rape allegation has now been dropped by Swedish prosecutors.
These are the key dates:
- August 2010 - The Swedish Prosecutor's Office first issues an arrest warrant for Mr Assange. It says there are two separate allegations - one of rape and one of molestation. Mr Assange says the claims are "without basis"
- December 2010 - Mr Assange is arrested in London and bailed at the second attempt
- May 2012 - The UK's Supreme Court rules he should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over the allegations
- June 2012 - Mr Assange enters the Ecuadorean embassy in London
- August 2012 - Ecuador grants asylum to Mr Assange, saying there are fears his human rights might be violated if he is extradited
- August 2015 - Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation into two allegations - one of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion - because they have run out of time to question him. But he still faces the more serious accusation of rape
- October 2015 - The Metropolitan Police announces that officers will no longer be stationed outside the Ecuadorean embassy
- February 2016 - A UN panel rules that Mr Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" by UK and Swedish authorities since 2010
- May 2017 - Sweden's director of public prosecutions announces that the rape investigation into Mr Assange is being dropped
- July 2018 - The UK and Ecuador confirm they are holding talks over the fate of Mr Assange
- October 2018 - Mr Assange is given a set of house rules by the Ecuadorean embassy
- October 2018 - It's revealed he is to launch legal action against the government of Ecuador - accusing it of violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms"
- December 2018 - Mr Assange's lawyer rejects an agreement announced by Ecuador's president that would see him leave the Ecuadorean embassy
- February 2019 - Australia grants Mr Assange a new passport amid fears Ecuador may bring his asylum to an end
- April 2019 - The Metropolitan Police enter the embassy and detain him for "failing to surrender to the court" over a warrant issued in 2012
- May 2019 - Mr Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions
- May 2019 - Sweden reopens the sexual assault investigation and the US files 17 new charges against Mr Assange
- November 2019 - Swedish prosecutors discontinue an investigation into an allegation of rape against Mr Assange
Below is more information on how events have unfolded:
11 August 2010
Julian Assange arrives in Sweden on a speaking trip partly arranged by "Miss A", a member of the Christian Association of Social Democrats. He has not met "Miss A" before but reports suggest they have arranged in advance that he can stay at her apartment while she is out of town for a few days.
14 August 2010
"Miss A" and Mr Assange attend a seminar by the Social Democrats' Brotherhood Movement on "War and the role of media", at which the Wikileaks founder is the key speaker. The two reportedly have sex that night.
17 August 2010
Mr Assange reportedly has sex with a woman he met at the seminar on 14 August, identified as "Miss W".
Some time between 17 and 20 August, "Miss W" and "Miss A" are in contact and apparently share with a journalist the concerns they have about aspects of their sexual encounters with Mr Assange.
18 August 2010
Mr Assange applies for a residence permit to live and work in Sweden. He hopes to create a base for Wikileaks there, because of the country's laws protecting whistleblowers.
20 August 2010
The Swedish Prosecutor's Office issues an arrest warrant for Mr Assange based on allegations of rape and molestation.
Both women reportedly say that what started as consensual sex became non-consensual.
Wikileaks quotes Mr Assange as saying the accusations are "without basis" and that their appearance "at this moment is deeply disturbing".
A later message on the Wikileaks Twitter feed says the group has been warned to expect "dirty tricks".
21 August 2010
"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape," says one of Stockholm's chief prosecutors, Eva Finne.
Prosecutors say the investigation into the molestation allegation will continue, but it is not a serious enough crime for an arrest warrant.
The lawyer for the two women, Claes Borgstrom, lodges an appeal against this decision to a special department in the public prosecutions office.
31 August 2010
Mr Assange is questioned by police in Stockholm and formally told of the allegations against him, according to his lawyer at the time, Leif Silbersky. The activist denies the allegations.
1 September 2010
Sweden's Director of Prosecution Marianne Ny says she is reopening the rape investigation against Mr Assange.
"Considering information available at present, my judgement is that the classification of the crime is rape," she says.
18 October 2010
The Wikileaks founder (an Australian citizen) is denied residency in Sweden. No reason is given, although an official on Sweden's Migration Board tells the AFP news agency "he did not fulfil the requirements".
18 November 2010
Stockholm District Court approves a request to detain Mr Assange for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. Ms Ny says he has not been available for questioning.
By this time Mr Assange has travelled to London. His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, says his client offered to be interviewed at the Swedish embassy in London or Scotland Yard or via videolink. He accuses Ms Ny of "abusing her powers" in insisting that Mr Assange return to Sweden.
20 November 2010
Swedish police issue an international arrest warrant for Mr Assange via Interpol.
8 December 2010
The Wikileaks founder gives himself up to British police and is taken to an extradition hearing. He is remanded in custody pending another hearing.
16 December 2010
Mr Assange is granted bail by the High Court and is freed after his supporters pay £240,000 in cash and sureties.
24 February 2011
A British court rules that Mr Assange should be extradited to Sweden.
3 March 2011
Lawyers lodge papers at the High Court for an appeal against extradition.
2 November 2011
The High Court upholds the decision to extradite Mr Assange.
5 December 2011
Mr Assange wins the right to petition the UK Supreme Court directly after judges rule that his case raised "a question of general public importance".
30 May 2012
The Supreme Court rules that he should be extradited to Sweden.
19 June 2012
Ecuador's foreign minister says Mr Assange has applied for political asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London.
15 August 2012
Ecuador's foreign minister claims the UK has issued a "threat" to enter the Ecuadorean embassy in London to arrest Mr Assange. The Foreign Office says it reminded Ecuador that it has the power to revoke the diplomatic immunity of an embassy on UK soil and says Britain has a legal obligation to extradite him.
16 August 2012
Ecuador grants asylum to Mr Assange, saying there are fears his human rights might be violated if he is extradited. Mr Assange describes it as a "significant victory", but the UK government expresses its disappointment.
20 August 2012
The UK insists it will not grant Mr Assange "safe passage" to Ecuador as it seeks a diplomatic solution. Downing Street says the government is legally obliged to extradite him to Sweden.
8 October 2012
Nine people who put up bail sureties for Mr Assange are ordered by a judge to pay thousands of pounds each after his failure to appear in court.
29 November 2012
Ecuador's ambassador says Mr Assange has a chronic lung infection "which could get worse at any moment". The embassy says it has sought assurances Mr Assange will not be arrested if he is taken to hospital.
18 August 2014
Mr Assange says he will leave London's Ecuadorean embassy "soon" after two years of refuge. He does not clarify when he will depart but says it is "probably not" for the reasons reported in the UK press. Stories had suggested he required medical treatment.
13 August 2015
Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation into one accusation of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion against Mr Assange because they have run out of time to question him. The more serious allegation of rape is not due to expire until 2020.
12 October 2015
Scotland Yard announces it will no longer be sending officers to stand guard outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Officers had been there since 2012, at an estimated cost of more than £12m.
The Metropolitan Police says the effort is "no longer believed proportionate" but it will be deploying "a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest" Mr Assange.
5 February 2016
A United Nations panel rules that Mr Assange should be allowed to walk free and be compensated for his "deprivation of liberty".
The UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says the Wikileaks founder has been arbitrarily detained by UK and Swedish authorities since his arrest in 2010, and the detention violates his human, civil and political rights.
Mr Assange hails it a "significant victory" and calls the decision "binding" - but UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond brands the ruling "ridiculous".
The UK Foreign Office says the report "changes nothing" and it will "formally contest the working group's opinion".
Before the ruling, police said he would still be arrested if he left the embassy.
14 November 2016
Sweden's chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren travels to London to question Mr Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy.
Ms Isgren listened as the questions were put to him by an Ecuadorean prosecutor, under an agreement worked out with Ecuador.
January 2017
Outgoing US President Barack Obama commutes the prison sentence given to US army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks.
Mr Assange says he stands by his offer to agree to be extradited to the US if Mr Obama granted clemency to Manning.
21 April 2017
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions says arresting Mr Assange is a priority. No charges have been filed against him in the US, but American media outlets report that federal prosecutors are considering charges.
17 May 2017
Chelsea Manning is released from Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas.
19 May 2017
Sweden's director of public prosecutions announces that the rape investigation into Mr Assange is being dropped.
11 January 2018
The Ecuadorean government confirms Mr Assange was granted Ecuadorean citizenship in December and asks the UK to recognise him as a diplomatic agent - a move that would give him immunity. The UK refuses.
26 January 2018
Lawyers for Mr Assange ask for a UK warrant for his arrest to be dropped.
13 February 2018
An arrest warrant for Mr Assange is upheld by Westminster Magistrate's Court.
24 February 2018
Ecuador says the country's latest efforts to negotiate the departure of Mr Assange from its London embassy have failed.
28 March 2018
18 May 2018
Ecuador removes extra security at its London embassy following claims that $5m (£3.7m) has been spent to protect Mr Assange.
27 July 2018
The UK and Ecuador confirm they are holding talks over the fate of Mr Assange. Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno says he was never "in favour" of Mr Assange's activities.
16 October 2018
Mr Assange is given a set of house rules at the Ecuadorean embassy - which include cleaning his bathroom and taking better care of his cat.
He is warned that his feline companion could be confiscated and is also told to look after its "wellbeing, food and hygiene".
Ecuador also says it will partially restore Mr Assange's internet connection.
19 October 2018
Wikileaks lawyers say its co-founder is going to launch legal action against the government of Ecuador, accusing it of violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms".
It claims the government of Ecuador has refused Mr Assange a visit by Human Rights Watch general counsel Dinah PoKempner, and has not allowed several meetings with his lawyers.
In a statement, Wikileaks said: "Ecuador's measures against Julian Assange have been widely condemned by the human rights community."
6 December 2018
Mr Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack, says his client will not be accepting a deal between the UK and Ecuador to allow him to be released.
The agreement was rejected over fears it could be used as a pretext to extradite him to the US.
"The suggestion that as long as the death penalty is off the table, Mr Assange need not fear persecution is obviously wrong," Mr Pollack says.
23 February 2019
Australia reveals that Mr Assange has a valid passport.
The passport would allow Mr Assange, who was born in Townsville, Australia, in 1971, to return to the country.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed that the government had approved a passport application filed by Mr Assange in 2018.
5 April 2019
WikiLeaks tweets that a "high level source within the Ecuadorean state" has told them Mr Assange is to be expelled from the embassy within "hours or days".
A senior Ecuadorean official says no decision has been made to remove him from the London building.
11 April 2019
Mr Assange is arrested at London's Ecuadorean embassy by Metropolitan Police officers for "failing to surrender to the court".
Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno says Mr Assange's asylum was withdrawn after his repeated violations of international conventions.
But WikiLeaks tweets that Ecuador has acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".
1 May 2019
Mr Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in jail after being found guilty of breaching the Bail Act.
13 May 2019
Sweden reopens an investigation into a rape allegation made against Mr Assange in 2010, which he denies.
The case was dropped two years before as Swedish prosecutors said they could not progress the case while Mr Assange was still inside the embassy.
Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden's deputy director of public prosecutions, said it would reopen because there was still "probable cause to suspect" that Mr Assange had committed the alleged rape.
23 May 2019
The US justice department files 17 new charges against Mr Assange, accusing him of violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified military and diplomatic documents.
The indictment said Mr Assange had "repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal and provide it to Wikileaks to disclose".
Wikileaks tweets that the announcement is "madness" and the "end of national security journalism and the first amendment".
19 November 2019
A Swedish prosecutor says an investigation into an allegation of rape against Mr Assange in 2010 has been discontinued.
Deputy chief prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson says that because so much time has passed since the allegation was made, the evidence has weakened considerably.
Mr Assange fled to the UK when the allegation of rape, which he denies, was made in 2010.
Julian Assange: US extradition bid gets a legal boost
By Hazel Shearing 0 BBC News
The United States has been given a boost in its bid to extradite Julian Assange, who is in prison in the UK.
In January, a court in London ruled he could not be extradited because of concerns over his mental health and the risk of suicide in the US.
A judge has now ruled the US government can be given more grounds to appeal against that decision.
US prosecutors want to put the Wikileaks founder on trial for hacking and disclosing classified information.
That includes the identities of informants who were helping intelligence agencies in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, in thousands of classified documents published in 2010 and 2011.
Mr Assange has previously said the case is politically motivated.
In January, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that while US prosecutors had met the tests for Mr Assange to be extradited for trial, the US was incapable of preventing him from attempting to take his own life.
At the High Court earlier, the US gave the UK some assurances about his extradition.
It said Mr Assange would not be placed in ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Colorado, before trial, nor would he be subject to the harshest prison conditions, known in US law as Special Administrative Measures, at any point.
Both of those were on the condition that they could be imposed if, after these assurances are offered, Mr Assange did something that warranted them.
And the US said that, if he were convicted, he could serve his US sentence in Australia, where he is originally from.
The US was allowed to appeal against Judge Baraitser's decision on certain grounds, but Mr Assange's legal team described them as "narrow" and "technical".
The US government bid in the High Court earlier to expand the basis that can be used for its main appeal.
Lord Justice Holroyde said the full appeal would be heard at the High Court on 27 and 28 October.
Clair Dobbin QC, representing the US government, told the court that part of its appeal would focus on the requirement in law that, in order for a decision to be taken not to prosecute or extradite an individual, they must be "so ill" that they are unable to resist suicide.
"It really requires a mental illness of a type that the ability to resist suicide has been lost," she said.
"Part of the appeal will be that Mr Assange did not have a mental illness that came close to being of that nature and degree."
Mr Assange appeared via video-link , wearing a dark face covering and a white shirt, with what appeared to be an untied burgundy tie.
Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told Mr Assange's supporters that the US government should "wind their necks in" and allow him to go free.
Mr Corbyn said Mr Assange was a reporter "in the tradition of fearless journalism" who had highlighted "a truth that was embarrassing to the US".
Mr Assange's partner, Stella Moris, was among supporters gathered outside. Some held banners reading "journalism is not a crime" and "no extradition".
A torn union flag with the words "truth on trial" was tied to the railings outside the court building.
Why is the UK involved?
The US has opposed releasing Mr Assange from Belmarsh Prison before the appeal is heard.
In 2019, he was jailed for 50 weeks for breaching bail conditions after going into hiding in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
At the time he fled to the embassy, he had been facing extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault, which he denied. That case was later dropped.
He sought refuge in the embassy for seven years from 2012 until he was arrested in April 2019.
What would Assange face in the US?
If convicted in the US, Mr Assange faces a possible penalty of up to 175 years in jail, his lawyers have said. However the US government said the sentence was more likely to be between four and six years.
Mr Assange faces an 18-count indictment from the US government, accusing him of conspiring to hack into US military databases to acquire sensitive secret information relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which was then published on the Wikileaks website.
He says the information exposed abuses by the US military.
But US prosecutors say the leaks of classified material endangered lives, and so the US sought his extradition from the UK.
Extradition is the process under which one country can ask another to hand over a suspect to face trial.
Julian Assange: Campaigner or attention seeker?
IHe says both encounters were entirely consensual, and a long legal battle ensued which saw him seek asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition.
After spending almost seven years inside the embassy, Assange was arrested by British police on 11 April 2019. It came after Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno tweeted that his country had taken "a sovereign decision" to withdraw his asylum status.
To his supporters, Julian Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, he is a publicity seeker who has endangered lives by putting a mass of sensitive information into the public domain.
Assange is described by those who have worked with him as intense, driven and highly intelligent, with an exceptional ability to crack computer codes.
He set up Wikileaks, which publishes confidential documents and images, in 2006, making headlines around the world in April 2010 when it released footage showing US soldiers shooting dead 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
But later that year he was detained in the UK - and later bailed - after Sweden issued an international arrest warrant over allegations of sexual assault.
Swedish authorities wanted to question him over claims that he had raped one woman and sexually molested and coerced another in August 2010, while on a visit to Stockholm to give a lecture.
The Wikileaks founder had always argued that he could not leave the embassy because he feared being extradited from Sweden to the US and put on trial for releasing secret US documents.
Officers removed him from the embassy's premises and took him into custody at a central London police station.
On 1 May 2019, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.
Weeks later, an investigation into the 2010 rape allegation against Assange was reopened by Swedish prosecutors.
Later that month, the US filed 17 new charges against Assange for violating the Espionage Act, related to the publication of classified documents in 2010.
Wikileaks said the announcement was "madness" and "the end of national security journalism".
As Assange prepared to fight against extradition to the US, Swedish prosecutors announced that the investigation into the 2010 rape allegation had been dropped.
Prosecutors said the evidence against Assange was "not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment", ending a case that spanned a decade.
In April 2020 it emerged that Assange had fathered two children while living inside the Ecuadorean embassy.
Stella Morris, a South African-born lawyer, said she had been in a relationship with the Wikileaks founder since 2015 and was raising their two young sons on her own.
Currently jailed in London's Belmarsh Prison, Assange's legal fight against extradition to the US continues.
During one extradition hearing in September 2020, a psychiatrist said Assange complained of hearing imaginary voices and music.
Michael Kopelman, who had interviewed Assange about 20 times, told the court he would be a "very high" suicide risk if he were extradited to the US.
Hacking
Assange has been generally reluctant to talk about his background, but media interest since the emergence of Wikileaks has thrown up some insight into his influences.
He was born in Townsville in the Australian state of Queensland in 1971, and led a rootless childhood while his parents ran a touring theatre. He became a father at 18 and custody battles soon followed.
The development of the internet gave him a chance to use his early promise at maths, though this too led to difficulties.
In 1995 Assange was accused, with a friend, of dozens of hacking activities. Though the group of hackers was skilled enough to track detectives tracking them, Assange was eventually caught and pleaded guilty.
He was fined several thousand Australian dollars - only escaping a prison term on the condition that he did not reoffend.
He then spent three years working with an academic, Suelette Dreyfus - who was researching the emerging, subversive side of the internet - writing a book with her, Underground, that became a bestseller in the computing fraternity.
Ms Dreyfus described Assange as a "very skilled researcher" who was "quite interested in the concept of ethics, concepts of justice, what governments should and shouldn't do".
This was followed by a course in physics and maths at Melbourne University, where he became a prominent member of a mathematics society, inventing an elaborate puzzle that contemporaries said he excelled at.
Wikileaks work
He began Wikileaks in 2006 with a group of like-minded people from across the web, creating a web-based "dead-letterbox" for would-be leakers.
"[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions," Assange told the BBC in 2011.
"We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to go through the extraordinary efforts that we do."
He adopted a nomadic lifestyle, running Wikileaks from temporary, shifting locations.
He could go for long stretches without eating and focus on work with very little sleep, according to Raffi Khatchadourian, a reporter for the New Yorker magazine who spent several weeks travelling with him.
"He creates this atmosphere around him where the people who are close to him want to care for him, to help keep him going. I would say that probably has something to do with his charisma."
Key dates in legal battle
- May 2012: The UK's Supreme Court rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over the allegations
- June 2012: He enters the Ecuadorean embassy in London
- August 2012: Ecuador grants him asylum, saying there are fears his human rights might be violated if he was to be extradited
- August 2015: Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation into two allegations
- December 2017: He is granted Ecuadorean citizenship
- October 2018: The Ecuadorean embassy gives him a set of house rules to follow
- April 2019: Ecuador withdraws his asylum status and he is arrested at the embassy
- May 2019 - He is sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions
- May 2019: Sweden reopens a sexual assault investigation
- May 2019: US justice department files 17 new charges against him
- November 2019 - Swedish prosecutors discontinue an investigation into an allegation of rape against him
'Smear campaign'
Wikileaks and Assange came to prominence with the release of the footage of the US helicopter shooting civilians in Iraq.
He promoted and defended the video, as well as the massive release of classified US military documents on the Afghan and Iraq wars in July and October 2010.
The whistleblowing website went on to release new tranches of documents, including five million confidential emails from US-based intelligence company Stratfor.
But it also found itself fighting for survival in 2010, when a number of US financial institutions began to block donations.
Coverage of Assange was then dominated by Sweden's efforts to question him over the 2010 sexual allegations. He said such efforts were politically motivated and part of a smear campaign.
Assange turned to then Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa for help, the two men having expressed similar views on freedom in the past.
His stay at the Ecuadorean embassy was punctuated by occasional press statements and interviews. He made a submission to the UK's Leveson Inquiry into press standards, saying he had faced "widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage".
Concerns over his health also surfaced but in August 2014, but Assange dismissed reports that he would be leaving the embassy to seek medical treatment.
'Significant victory'
Assange later complained to the UN that he was being unlawfully detained as he could not leave the embassy without being arrested.
In February 2016, a UN panel ruled in his favour, stating that he had been "arbitrarily detained" and should be allowed to walk free and compensated for his "deprivation of liberty".
Assange hailed it a "significant victory" and called the decision "binding", leading his lawyers to call for the Swedish extradition request to be dropped immediately.
The ruling was not legally binding on the UK, however, and the UK Foreign Office responded by saying it "changes nothing".
In 2016, Sweden's chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren travelled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London to question Assange over the 2010 rape allegation. Prosecutors had already dropped their investigation into the sexual assault allegations after running out of time to question him and bring charges.
IMAGE SOURCE,EPASince Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange, the European Arrest Warrant for him no longer stands.
But the Metropolitan Police said Assange still faced the lesser charge of failing to surrender to a court in June 2012, an offence punishable by up to a year in prison or a fine.
And it was a warrant based on this charge which led to his arrest in 2019. Citing the warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 June 2012, the Metropolitan Police said Assange had been "taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as possible".
IMAGE SOURCE,RUPTLYThe police said they had been invited into the embassy by the Ecuadorean ambassador.
Ecuador's shifting position
Ecuador's position vis-à-vis Assange changed after President Correa, a strong advocate of Wikileaks, was succeeded in office by Lenín Moreno.
Mr Moreno and his government had grown increasingly frustrated with Assange and his refusal to follow the rules they had imposed for his continued stay in the embassy.
In his video statement, President Moreno said he had "inherited this situation" and that Assange had ignored Ecuador's requests to "respect and abide by these rules".
His decision, Mr Moreno said, followed "repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols" by Assange.
He said that in particular, Assange had "violated the norm of not intervening in the internal affairs of other states", most recently in January 2019 when Wikileaks had released documents from the Vatican.
In a video statement, President Moreno also said that he had requested that Great Britain guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty.
WikiLeaks publishes 'biggest ever leak of secret CIA documents'
The 8,761 documents published by WikiLeaks focus mainly on techniques for hacking and surveillance