Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, has been arrested

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London by British police Thursday, April 11, after being expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy — and he’ll now likely face extradition to the United States.

Assange started WikiLeaks in 2006 with the stated goal of publishing information that the powerful were trying to keep secret. The group had its greatest successes in obtaining and posting US military, national security, and foreign policy documents, and Assange was a harsh critic of what he deemed the US’s imperialist ambitions.

He has dogged the US government with a series of leaks over the past decade — such as the war documents and State Department cables provided by US Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning and CIA hacking material.

With an outstanding arrest warrant in the United Kingdom and fearing reprisal from the US, Assange had taken refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy for the past seven years. However, his relations with the Ecuadorian government soured after a new president took power, leading to his ultimate expulsion from the embassy.