British police are prepared to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he is ousted from his sanctuary at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Officers with London’s metropolitan police department were stationed outside the embassy Friday morning following messages from WikiLeaks claiming that Assange would be moved out of the facility within hours or days, The Associated Press reported.
{mosads}Police told reporters that Assange faces a warrant for his arrest in the United Kingdom, which he has been avoiding for years by living in the Ecuadorian diplomatic compound, and officers said that they are “obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy,” according to the AP.
The news comes hours after a Twitter account representing WikiLeaks cited a high-level source in the Ecuadorian government who said that Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno, himself at the center of a corruption scandal triggered by leaked documents, was seeking to oust Assange from the embassy.
“BREAKING: 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 UK for his arrest,” WikiLeaks tweeted from its verified account.
In a post on the organization’s legal defense blog, WikiLeaks claimed that the move was punishment for Assange’s alleged involvement in the leak of the INA Papers, which implicated Moreno in corruption schemes.
“The leak has sparked a congressional investigation into President Moreno for corruption. Moreno can’t be summoned for a criminal probe while he remains president. He is currently being investigated and risks impeachment,” the blog post read.
Assange’s lawyers have maintained that he had nothing to do with the leak. If he is ousted from the embassy, he could be arrested by British authorities and possibly extradited to the U.S., where he faces charges under seal.
“Remember that WikiLeaks has an internal organization and Mr. Assange is no longer in the editor,” Assange’s lawyer said, according to the legal defense blog.