OF THE
TIMES

The WikiLeaks founder was hauled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London by British police on Thursday morning, after nearly seven years of de-facto house arrest. Assange was found guilty of failing to appear at a 2012 bail hearing, and is also facing extradition to the United States on a charge of conspiracy to commit a cybercrime.Our solidarity is with this brother who is persecuted by the US government for bringing to light its human rights violations, murders of civilians and diplomatic espionage.

Leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has publicly opposed UK's possible extradition of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange to the US, saying he exposed evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hours following Assange's arrest in London on Thursday, Corbyn tweeted a video statement of Labour MP Diane Abbott, who argued in Parliament that WikiLeaks had "lifted the veil on US military operations in a variety of theaters, none of which have produced a favourable outcome for the people of those countries."
"Julian Assange is not being pursued to protect US national security, he is being pursued because he has exposed wrongdoing by US administrations and their military forces," said Abbott.


As thousands of protesters gathered for a sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, television and radio stations broadcast footage of military marches and patriotic music. People who took part in a protest vigil outside the army headquarters were chanting "[The government] has fallen. We won" as they awaited further news, according to Reuters.Interesting that the coup comes when the atmosphere in Sudan has been warming to Russia:
The news agency also reports that troops raided the headquarters of the Islamic movement led by al-Bashir.
It is believed that a military-run transition body was established, but this is yet also to be confirmed. In the meantime, a Sudanese group that coordinated the protest demanded that power be handed over to a civilian - not military - interim entity.
The latest twist of the crisis in Sudan comes after clashes between anti-government activists and uniformed security forces over the past days.
In all, 49 people are said to have died in protest-related violence since demonstrations erupted over government plans to sharply increase the price of bread in December 2018.President al-Bashir came to power in a 1989 coup carried out by the military on the heels of a 21-year civil war. In the mid-2000s, he faced allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity following a conflict in western region of Darfur.© Reuters/StringerSudanese demonstrators chant slogans during a protest against President Omar al-Bashir
The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant and a travel ban on al-Bashir. He also won consecutive polls in 2010 and 2015, but promised at the beginning of 2019 that he would not seek re-election once his term ended in 2020.
Comment: