Head of Left-Wing Spanish Party Podemos Demands Release of Julian Assange

MADRID (Sputnik) - The head of the left-wing Spanish party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, called on Thursday for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrested earlier in the day, to be released.

"Exploitation, injustice and privileges for the strong are possible only because they are based on lies. Therefore, if authorities — in Spain and in the world — are afraid of anything, then this is true. Freedom for Julian Assange", Iglesias wrote on Twitter.

The UK police arrested the founder of the whistleblowing website in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been residing since 2012 fearing extradition after Ecuador had withdrawn asylum that it had earlier granted to Assange.

READ MORE: Thumbs Up From Assange Sitting in Police Van on Way to Court

The arrest was made on behalf of the US authorities, wanting Assange jailed for the release of classified information. The activist will be taken to the Westminster Magistrates' Court later in the day, according to WikiLeaks.

Assange gained fame after the WikiLeaks project published a large number of leaked files, including those referring to US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and conditions at the US-run Guantanamo detention camp.

Assange was hiding from the UK police in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced a probe over sexual assault allegations. The Australian denied those claims and called them politically motivated. While Swedish police dropped the investigation in 2017, London still wanted to arrest Assange for breaking his bail.