Unknown pranksters reportedly opened a listing on the booking service Airbnb purporting to rent out the room in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London previously occupied by Julian Assange, who was arrested by British police on 11 April. The listing was reported by The Sun has having gone under the heading "Spare room in Ecuadorian Embassy", but can't currently be found on the service's website, possibly having been deleted.
Julian Assange prankster posts joke Ecuadorian Embassy AirBnB ad for ‘spare room’ with ‘stains on the walls’ https://t.co/lwcEMaNReS pic.twitter.com/B5rK4JUnGJ
— The News Amed (@thenewsamed) April 11, 2019
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According to a screenshots published online, the listing, while not directly indicating that it was Assange's room, referred to several details of his seven-year stay in the embassy. Namely, the listing's description noted that the previous occupier had spent "a long time there".
It also highlighted advantages of the room, such as "self check-in for people escaping authorities" and a "useful balcony to chat sh*t off of", referring to Assange's session with reporters standing in the Ecuadorian Embassy's balcony in May 2017.
The founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblowing website, Julian Assange, was arrested inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on 11 April over a violation of his bail conditions and an extradition request by the US authorities. The British police were invited by Ecuador after the country withdrew Assange's political asylum, which was granted to the whistle-blower in 2012, citing repeated alleged violations of his stay in the embassy by meddling in the politics of Ecuador's partners.
READ MORE: LIVE UPDATES: Assange Arrested at Ecuadorian Embassy After 7 Years of Asylum
As he was being forcibly taken out of the embassy, Assange called for the UK to "resist this attempt by the Trump administration", allegedly referring to Washington's efforts to extradite the WikiLeaks' founder. Immediately after his arrest, the US Department of Justice announced its charges against the whistle-blower, accusing him of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack into to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet) to steal classified documents.
Assange was found guilty by a UK court of violating his bail conditions and sentenced to 12 months, but an extradition request from the US will be reviewed later.
Assange was arrested in the UK in 2012 at the request of Sweden, where he was accused of rape. Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy after being released on bail and stayed there even after Sweden dropped their charges in 2017. He believed that once arrested by the British authorities, he would be extradited to the US, which seeks to prosecute him for the publication of secret documents from the Iraq and Afghan wars.
