British court finds Assange guilty of skipping bail

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – A British court on Thursday found WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange guilty of breaking his bail terms in 2012 after failing to surrender to security services.

Judge Michael Snow at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court said he will be sentenced on May 2 at Southwark Crown Court, as Assange is now facing a prison term of up to 12 months, according to reports.

Snow said Assange had shown the “behavior of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest.”

Assange was arrested after Ecuador’s Embassy in London decided to expel him from their building on Thursday.

British police said he was arrested for skipping his bail in 2012 and on behalf of the U.S. due to an extradition warrant.

Assange will also appear on a video hearing on May 2, the day he is due to be sentenced by the crown court, on the charges he faces from U.S. authorities.

Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed the arrest, confirming that Assange was “also arrested in relation to an extradition request from the U.S. authorities.”

Thanking the police for “great professionalism” and welcoming “the co-operation of the Ecuadorian government” during a statement in the House of Commons, May said the arrest “goes to show that in the U.K., no one is above the law.”

Assange was seen shouting "you must resist, you can resist" as he was carried by officers into a police van at about 10.30 a.m. local time.

The police said they had a “duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster Magistrates' Court, and were invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.”

Earlier Thursday the WikiLeaks founded was expelled from Ecuador’s Embassy in London, his home for nearly seven years.

-‘No hero’

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said they "are not making any judgment" about Assange's innocence or guilt.

Speaking to SkyNews, Hunt said Assange is "no hero" and "no-one is above the law."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement to parliament that the extradition request will be handled by the British judiciary.

Last week WikiLeaks said on Twitter that “a high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within ‘hours to days’ using the INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext -- and that it already has an agreement with the U.K. for his arrest,” referring to documents allegedly implicating corruption by Ecuador’s president.

A Metropolitan Police arrest warrant was still in force after Assange absconded after his release on bail in 2010.

Assange has been holed up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Knightsbridge, central London, for nearly seven years since claiming diplomatic asylum in June 2012 after being wanted by Swedish prosecutors for questioning over various alleged sexual offenses.

Sweden since dropped the charges against him, but Assange remained at the embassy, fearing extradition to the U.S. on charges over WikiLeaks’ release of sensitive US government files.

He was supposed to be extradited to Stockholm by British authorities before entering the embassy.