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WikiLeaks founder Assange now incommunicado
News & Trends •
she ruled in february that it was in the public interest to pursue him for failing to surrender to arrest since the warrant was issued in 20121 ecuador has cut off wikileaks founder julian assanges outside communication in its london embassy an official has said1 according to reports ecuador government also said it could take additional measures against assange for this alleged interference with other states an indirect reference to uk or spain1 according to some sources the denial of communication privileges may be a precursor to ecuadors expulsion of the australian from its embassy which could lead to his arrest in uk1 assange 46 has been holed up in the ecuadoran embassy in london since 2012 and has been granted asylum by ecuador1 he entered the ecuadoran embassy in june 2012 to dodge a european arrest warrant and extradition to sweden over a 2010 probe there into rape and sexual assault allegations1 sweden dropped its investigation last year but british police are still seeking to arrest assange for failing to surrender to a court after violating his bail terms during his unsuccessful battle against extradition1 assange recently asked a uk court to quash the arrest warrant. but he was not successful1 his fear was that if he surrenders to britain he would be extradited to the united states1 but judge emma arbuthnot turned down the prayer1 the official said the wanted hacker will be denied access to communications inside the ecuador embassy in london as ecuadorian authorities said his messages are interfering with other states matters and hurting relations with the uk1 at westminster magistrates court in the british capital arbuthnot rejected his lawyers argument that upholding the warrant was no longer in the public interest1 arrest is a proportionate response even though mr assange has restricted his own freedom for a number of years she said1 arbuthnot englands chief magistrate had earlier rejected claims by assanges lawyers that the warrant for skipping bail was rendered null-and-void because there was no longer any underlying crime1 im not persuaded that the warrant should be withdrawn she said explaining that assange had breached his bail conditions in 20121 mr assanges failure to surrender has impeded the course of justice and has led finally to the case being dropped as it cannot be continued unless he returned to sweden the judge said1 mr assanges failure is a determined attempt to avoid the order of the court1 he is a man who wants to impose his terms on the course of justice whether the course of justice is in this jurisdiction or in sweden. he appears to consider himself above the normal rules of law and wants justice only if it goes in his favour1 it is certainly not against the public interest to proceed1 assange voiced his shock at the ruling1 we are surprised. the judge went outside what the parties presented in court. this seems to have led to the significant factual errors in the judgement the 46-year-old australian said on twitter1