Powers That Be relieved at Assange eviction: Arrest of Julian Assange met with cheers from UK lawmakers in parliament

RT
Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:07 UTC

© Press Association

Theresa May

UK parliamentarians have reacted to the news of WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange's arrest with hearty cheers, as PM Theresa May and her ministers heaped praise on the Ecuadorian govt, for bringing the case to a conclusion.

May delivered a statement on Assange's arrest to the House of Commons on Thursday, outlining the charges against the 47 year-old Australian, thanking the Metropolitan Police, and claiming the case showed that "in the United Kingdom, no one is above the law."

I'm sure that the whole House will welcome the news this morning that the Metropolitan Police have arrested Julian Assange [cheers]

May confirmed to Parliament that Assange's arrest was made for an alleged breach of bail, and following an extradition request from the United States. May also welcomed the co-operation of Ecuador's new pro-US government in getting Assange evicted after almost seven years in the country's London embassy.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt took to Twitter thanking Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno for his cooperation, insisting Assange "is no hero...he has hidden from the truth for years."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid also made a Commons statement on Assange echoing May's line that no-one was above the law. Javid insited Assange's legal rights will be protected.

...contrary to what Mr Assange and his supporters claim, he and his legitimate interests will be protected

He also revealed that UK police costs of monitoring the Wikileaks founder totalled £13.2 million ($17.2mn) by 2015.

Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrates court on Thursday afternoon. The judge found him guilty of failing to surrender to bail in 2012. The WikiLeaks founder will be sentenced on May 2.

Comment:

Updates: President Trump disavows Wikileaks and Assange:

US President Donald Trump, who said he loved WikiLeaks during his election campaign, tried to distance himself from the arrest of Julian Assange, which was carried out by Britain on the request of the US.

Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office on Thursday, hours after the arrest of Assange in London, Trump said:

I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing.

Trump was far less reluctant to speak about the transparency site in 2016, when it played a major role in the US presidential election after it published a number of documents leaked from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Then-candidate Trump called the work of the site "amazing" and said he "loved" what it was being doing.

Ironically, those statements were used against Trump by proponents of the now-debunked Russiagate conspiracy theory, which said his campaign colluded with the Russian government to steal the election. Russia was accused of hacking into DNC computer networks and releasing stolen documents via WikiLeaks - an allegation that both Moscow and the website deny.

Trump officials at one point were accused by the US media of having foreknowledge of the contents of one of the batches of documents published by WikiLeaks. The story soon flopped after it turned out that several outlets, which claimed to be reporting separately, based their reporting on a mis-read date of a tweet, which was actually sent by a random person to the Trump campaign to draw attention to a fresh release of leaked materials.

Former Ecuadorian president Correa slams Lenin Moreno as a traitor:

Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa explained to RT why he calls his successor Lenin Moreno the "worst traitor" in the country's history for handing over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to British authorities.

Correa spoke to RT Spanish to explain why he publicly branded Moreno the "greatest traitor in Ecuadorian history." The former president says his successor is no better than the disciple Judas Iscariot or Ephialtes of Trachis, the man accused of betraying Greek forces defending the pass of Thermopylae from invading Persians.

Unconstitutional deal with the US

"It was not Rafael Correa, who gave asylum to Julian Assange. It was the state of Ecuador. And the state of Ecuador had to protect the person it pledged to protect according to international law and its national pride. Instead they gave him up, allowed the British police to enter our embassy," he said.

He added that the move also violated the constitution of Ecuador, since Assange is now a citizen of the Latin American country and is owed protection accordingly. "This is unheard of. These actions cannot leave one not outraged," he said.

Correa said Moreno basically sold "Assange's head" to the Americans. The US wants to prosecute Assange for allegedly conspiring with former US Army soldier Chelsea Manning in her leaking of classified US documents to WikiLeaks.

Revenge for allegedly publishing documents incriminating Moreno

Moreno's decision was partially motivated by various benefits Ecuador and the president personally got in return, Correa believes. But another motive was revenge on WikiLeaks, he told RT. Moreno believes that the site was responsible for publication of explosive documents, which implicate him and his family members in corruption.

"Paul Manafort, the head of the Trump presidential campaign, visited Ecuador on May 30, 2017, weeks after Moreno took the office of the president. And even then Moreno offered to hand out Assange in exchange for financial enrichment from the US," Correa said.

"In 2018, [US Vice President] Mike Pence visited Ecuador, and he and Moreno agreed on three things. Isolate Venezuela, which Moreno did with great enthusiasm. Drop a case against Chevron, which he gladly did as well. And hand over Assange," the ex-president said. "WikiLeaks publishing documents about [Moreno's] blatant corruption was the latest straw."

The corruption case Correa referred to is dubbed "INA Papers" after the name of an offshore company, which was allegedly used by the incumbent president for corrupt dealings. Materials exposing the link between the firm owned by the president's brother and various shady operations were leaked in February and triggered a congressional probe in Ecuador. WikiLeaks denies being behind the leak, but Moreno insists otherwise.

"Moreno knows that he and his family will go to prison for corruption and money laundering. So before he leaves, he wants to harm as many people as possible, including Julian Assange," Correa alleged. "He decided to ruin another person before going to prison. He is moved by pathological hatred and in his desire to take revenge, that's why he gave out Assange to the British police."

Moreno tried to break Assange and make him leave

Correa added that Moreno's government previously tried and failed to break Assange, hoping to get rid of him in a less explicit way.

"They tried to make him leave the embassy voluntarily with this ruthless isolation and harsh rules. They couldn't make him. They hope he would get ill and require treatment at a hospital so that he could be arrested there. And again they failed," he said.