Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would receive the same consular support as any other citizen on Friday (April 12).
British police dragged Australian national Assange out of Ecuador's embassy on Thursday (April 11) after his seven-year asylum was revoked, paving the way for his extradition to the United States for one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information.
Assange made international headlines in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
To some, Australian-born Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power and for championing free speech. To others, he is a dangerous figure who has undermined the security of the United States and has too many ties to Russia. Several dozen protesters in the center of Sydney called for Assange's release on Friday, chanting “free the truth, free Assange, don't shoot the messenger.”