Assange's embassy cat was "adored and looked after extremely well," a friend says Where Is Julian Assange's Twitter-Famous Pet Cat Now That He's Been Arrested? WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lived almost entirely in isolation during his seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London — except for a cat he adopted in 2016 and who then racked up thousands of followers on social media. Now, in the wake of his arrest Thursday morning, those same feline fans are wondering: What will become of “Embassy Cat,” whose Instagram bio joked “interested in counter-purrveillance”? Get push notifications with news, features and more. One user tweeted: “What I really need to know is what’s going to happen to #Assange’s bow tie cat.” A friend of the 47-year-old Assange tells PEOPLE the cat, whom he “adored and looked after extremely well,” will now “be looked after by friends.” Information about the pet cat has conflicted before. Journalist James Ball tweeted Thursday that the cat “was reportedly given to a shelter by the Ecuadorian embassy ages ago” and an Italian news outlet reported in November that Assange’s cat was gone: “[He] has preferred to spare the cat an isolation which has become unbearable and allow it a healthier life.” Julian Assange supporters outside the Ecuadorean Embassy, London, UK - 01 Aug 2018 Julian Assange’s cat is seen at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August | Credit: Stephen Chung/LNP/REX/Shutterstock Assange’s arrest on Thursday brought his hermit-like existence in the embassy where he hid (from pending arrest in an unrelated case) to an abrupt end. He now faces extradition to the United States where he is accused of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in connection with Chelsea Manning’s release of thousands of secret government documents. Speaking on the steps of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday afternoon, his attorney Jennifer Robinson said his first words to her were “I told you so.” His legal team has described the American prosecution as an attack on press freedoms — though the charge against him, conspicuously, is not based on his actual publication of any material. Assange is next due to appear at Southwark Crown Court in London on May 2. The U.S. government must bring forward extradition papers by June 12. Assange’s arrest was made possible after Ecuador revoked his asylum for “repeatedly violating international conventions.”<doc-sep>With Assange’s arrest, U.S. and British authorities ended a seven-year saga in which the anti-secrecy crusader stayed just beyond their reach while his group dumped classified and politically volatile materials onto the Internet. U.S. prosecutors confirmed for the first time that they had secretly charged Assange last year with conspiring with an Army intelligence analyst to illegally obtain secret U.S. military and diplomatic documents, which Assange’s group published online. He is accused of helping Chelsea Manning, the former soldier then known as Bradley Manning, perhaps unsuccessfully, try to crack a government password.<doc-sep>British police have arrested Julian Assange after Ecuador withdrew his asylum status. The arrest was made at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been claiming asylum since 2012. Assange was carried out of the embassy by authorities, and taken into custody at a central London police station. Assange could be heard pleading that “the UK must resist... this attempt by the Trump administration.” Police later confirmed that Assange was “further arrested” on behalf of US authorities under an extradition warrant. “He is accused in the United States of America of computer related offences” a spokesperson for the Home Office said. The US indictment, published this morning, lists a single count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. An extradition hearing will take place at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. BREAK: Full @Ruptly video of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s arrest by British police this morning pic.twitter.com/tdBw1Kbpxn — Barnaby Nerberka (@barnabynerberka) April 11, 2019 Assange’s future in the embassy was called into question last year after the president of Ecuador said he would “eventually” have to leave the property and revealed that he was in discussions with British authorities to end his asylum. Assange was also given a new set of house rules back in October, including orders to look after his cat and avoid political interference using the embassy’s Wi-Fi. These rules followed Assange appointing Kristinn Hrafnsson to replace him as the WikiLeaks editor, following his prior lack of internet access. WikiLeaks rose to fame in 2010 when it published a collection of classified US documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who shared military and diplomatic secrets. The WikiLeaks founder was first granted asylum in 2012 in order to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault. Since then, he has been accused of aiding Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election by publishing over 19,000 emails stolen from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Last year 12 Russia intelligence officers were charged over the crime, one of whom was in contact with the WikiLeaks founder. Last November it emerged that Assange is being charged over the publication of classified documents by the US Justice Department after an apparent copy-and-paste error was made in an unrelated court filing. Last week, WikiLeaks reported that it had learned from a source within the Ecuadorian government that Assange was due to be expelled from the embassy within “hours to days.” Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry later denied these reports. When he was arrested today, Assange could be seen holding a copy of Gore Vidal’s History of the National Security State, a book about the rise of the modern military-industrial-security complex and the so-called “Imperial Presidency” in what was an apparent critique of the US government. In a sovereign decision Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols. #EcuadorSoberano pic.twitter.com/pZsDsYNI0B — Lenín Moreno (@Lenin) April 11, 2019 In a video posted to Twitter, the president of Ecuador Lenín Moreno said that while the country respects the right of asylum, “the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially, the transgression of international treaties” mean that “the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable.” In particular, Moreno calls out Assange’s intervention “in the internal affairs of other states.” In January 2019 WikiLeaks released a collection of confidential Vatican documents, and Moreno says Assange’s activity around this time suggests he is still involved in WikiLeaks. Along with this alleged interference in the affairs of other states, Moreno also says Assange blocked security cameras, has mistreated guards, and even accessed the security files of the embassy without permission. Moreno said the British government has confirmed in writing that Assange will not be extradited to a country that uses torture or the death penalty. The UK’s Home Secretary will consider whether an individual is at risk of the death penalty when choosing whether to order an extradition. Update April 11th, 9:10AM ET: Added confirmation from Home Office that Assange was arrested due to an extradition request and is accused of computer related offences.<doc-sep>
Months of speculation came to a close Thursday when WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British authorities after being expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, ahead of his planned extradition to the United States. The UK Home Office said in a statement that the Australian hacktivist is accused of “computer related offences.” Footage of the moment Assange was hauled out of the embassy after spending nearly seven years there was posted to Twitter by the Ruptly video news agency. In the footage, Assange can be heard yelling, “The UK must resist!” He held a book that Jon Levine of the Wrap identified as Gore Vidal’s History of the National Security State. Here it is: BREAK: Full @Ruptly video of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s arrest by British police this morning pic.twitter.com/tdBw1Kbpxn — Barnaby Nerberka (@barnabynerberka) April 11, 2019 Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno posted a video on Twitter explaining that the decision to expel Assange from his country’s embassy was made because Assange allegedly “violated repeatedly clearcut provisions of the conventions on diplomatic asylum of Havana and Caracas ... he particularly violated the norm of not intervening in the internal affairs of other states.” Ecuador decidió soberanamente retirar el asilo diplomático a Julian Assange por violar reiteradamente convenciones internacionales y protocolo de convivencia. #EcuadorSoberano pic.twitter.com/V02pvvtPY0 — Lenín Moreno (@Lenin) April 11, 2019 In a statement released following Assange’s arrest, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced that Assange is being extradited to face prosecution for “a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified US government computer.” More from the statement: The indictment alleges that in March 2010, Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications. Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks. Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures. The charges against Assange do not relate to WikiLeaks’ publication of emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign during the 2016 election cycle — hacks that US investigators have traced back to Russian agents. The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.