Assange Arrested

WikiLeaker Julian Assange was arrested today in the UK. He was apprehended for sex crimes in Sweden, not for splashing U.S. classified documents or holding the Obama administration hostage.

It's like Al Capone being arrested and convicted for tax evasion.

From the Wall Street Journal Law blog:

Given how consistently Julian Assange has thumbed his nose at, well, the entire diplomatic world, it was probably only a matter of time until law authorities caught up with him.

It happened early in the U.K. on Tuesday on an international warrant related to sexual-assault accusations in Sweden, setting up a battle over an extradition he has already pledged to fight. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the NYT article; here for the Washington Post article; here for an article from the Guardian.

London’s Metropolitan Police said Assange appeared by appointment at a London police station at 9:30 a.m. local time Tuesday. Early in the afternoon, he arrived at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court in a black sedan that was swamped by photographers before disappearing into a garage.

Assange’s attorney, Mark Stephens, arrived a short time later, saying only that the WikiLeaks’ founder was in “good spirits” and his interaction with police had been “cordial.” Stephens has said he plans to fight the validity of the Swedish arrest warrant in court. The U.K. is known for carefully scrutinizing extradition requests, and in some high-profile cases has rejected these requests and refused to extradite people.

Assange’s arrest is totally unrelated to his document-leaking activities. But U.S. officials indicated they weren’t displeased to see him apprehended. “That sounds like good news to me,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking to reporters in Eastern Afghanistan.

Does this mean Assange's leaks have been plugged?

No.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Assange’s associates said his detention would not alter plans for further disclosures like the wealth of field reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that it released over the summer and fall, and, over the past nine days, confidential diplomatic messages between the State Department and American representatives abroad.

“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” a posting on the WikiLeaks Twitter account said.

That left unclear whether a more serious threat would be carried out. In recent days, Mr. Assange has asserted that “over 100,000 people” had downloaded the entire archive of 251,287 cables in encrypted form. Only around 1,000 of the cables have so far been released; in many, names of sources who might be compromised or endangered were redacted.

“If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” Mr. Assange wrote in a question-and-answer session on the Web site of the British newspaper The Guardian. Mr. Stephens, the lawyer, reiterated that warning on Tuesday saying a “a virtual network” of “thousands of journalists” around the world would ensure that the rest of the documents would be published.

In the meantime, Assange's fans remain loyal.

Reporters and television crews from around the world watched as an armored wagon holding Mr. Assange pulled away from the court, and photographers rushed at its rear windows, cameras flashing. Dozens of WikiLeaks supporters who had gathered outside the courthouse converged on vehicle, banging on its side panels and yelling "We love you!"

Al Capone also had his fans.

Some considered him a celebrity and a philanthropist, not a ruthless, murderous thug.

Are there more parallels between Capone and Assange? Perhaps syphilis?
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Rush Limbaugh: Assange in jail dripping with irony

'World-famous for leaking, being arrested for not wearing a condom'

"A little ironic, isn't it? Mr. Assange who is world-famous for leaking, being arrested for not wearing a condom of all things?" asked Limbaugh.

"Yeah, I said it. Assange, world-famous for leaking, being arrested for not wearing a condom. It's a little ironic. Of all things to arrest this guy for. And why doesn't [U.S. Attorney General Eric] Holder go after Assange right now? They got him in custody. Assange is white."

Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, is wanted in Sweden over allegations he sexually assaulted two women, was refused bail today in Britain on the grounds he was a flight risk, and is scheduled for another hearing Dec. 14.

Two women claim Assange did not wear a condom during their relations, despite it being an "express wish."