© file photoBritish Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
The U.K.'s top diplomat said he would not stand in the way of Julian Assange's extradition to the U.S., a move the Justice Department has requested since the WikiLeaks founder was expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and
arrested by British authorities in April.
Pressed on the U.S. government's extradition request for Assange, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, one of the high-profile Conservative politicians vying to replace
outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May,
expressed no sympathy for Assange and said he would not block an extradition if he was chosen to lead the British government."Well, we would have to follow our own legal processes, just as the U.S. has to follow its own legal processes," Hunt told "
Face the Nation" Sunday. "But would I want to stand in the way of Julian Assange facing justice? No, I would not."
After Ecuador withdrew Assange's asylum in early April, British police entered the embassy and arrested him for failing to appear in court in relation to an extradition request by the government in Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual abuse. He has since been sentenced to 50 weeks of imprisonment by the British judiciary.
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