Diane Abbott faces fury for defending Julian Assange by saying his arrest was for 'embarrassing the US military' and 'we all know it's not about the rape charges' as he faces extradition
Diane Abbott sparked fury this morning after defending Wikileaks founder Julian Assange by appearing to play down rape claims levelled against him.
The Labour MP claimed Assange was being targeted for leaking 'embarrassing information' about the US military and security services, before insisting his arrest was 'not about the rape charges'.
When challenged over the sexual assault allegations made against Mr Assange, Ms Abbott said that the 'charges were never brought'.
But her defence of the 47-year-old former computer hacker was branded 'outrageous' and 'disgraceful', with members of her own party among the MPs outraged by her response.
Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape claim.
The investigation into the alleged rape, which he denied, was later dropped because he had evaded the arrest warrant. But yesterday Swedish prosecutors said they will look at resuming it after his accuser asked for the case to be reopened.
It came hours after Assange was arrested and dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy when his asylum was dramatically withdrawn by the country.
He was later found guilty of skipping bail in the UK and also faces extradition to the US after the American government charged him with hacking 750,000 classified documents.
Diane Abbott (pictured, right) has sparked fury online after comments this morning saw her accused of 'dismissing' sexual assault charges levelled at Assange (left)
Assange first entered the embassy seven years ago to escape charges of rape that were levelled at him by these two women
Pictured: Assange after he was arrested following a seven-year stay at the Ecuadorian embassy yesterday
Abbott told John Humphrys on Radio 4 today that there may be human rights grounds on which to oppose Assange's extradition.
The BBC presenter fired back that Assange had skipped bail and only sought diplomatic immunity in the building when he faced sexual assault allegations in Sweden and refused to go to the country.
She responded 'those charges were never brought' before Humphrys pointed out that Swedish law prevents suspects from being charge in their absence.
Abbott then repeated her assertion and said the pursuit of Assange had nothing to do with alleged rape.
'The allegations were made but the charges were never brought,' she said. 'We all know what this is about. It's not the rape charges - as they are - it's about the Wikileaks and all of that embarrassing information about the activities of the American military and security services that was made public.'
After saying for a third time that 'charges were never brought', Abbott said Assange should face justice if the Swedish government comes forward with charges.
'Much of the information he brought into public domain, it could be argued, were very much in the public interest,' the Labour politician added.
Abbott's remarks sparked outrage on social media as people took to Twitter to point out that Assange had 'escaped' charges by seeking immunity in the embassy.
It's not the first time the gaffe-prone MP has come under fire for comments made in an interview, with previous controversies including her assertion that dictator Chairman Mao did more good than harm.
Labour's Jess Philips and Bridgett Philipson joined Tory Anna Soubry to condemn Abbott's comments online. It comes after yesterday their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, called for Britain to 'oppose' any attempt at extraditing Assange to the states.
Supporters of Assange's activism point to him releasing footage of American troops firing on civilians, but his opponents highlight instances of revealing the identities of Afghan informants working with the US to topple Islamists.
It came after she joined left-wing campaigners in condemning Assange's arrest yesterday.
The WikiLeaks founder, 47, is facing 12 months in a British prison after being hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London after a seven-year stay and brought before Westminster Magistrates' Court, where he was found guilty of skipping bail.
In a sensational turn of events, he was also charged by the US government with conspiring with American whistleblower Chelsea Manning 'to break a password to a classified government computer' in 2010, for which he could be jailed for five years.
Ms Abbott joined the likes of Pamela Anderson, Edward Snowden, Vivienne Westwood and Peter Tatchell in voicing their concern for Assange.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, pictured, told the House of Commons today Julian Assange was only being pursued by the US for 'exposing wrongdoing'
Ms Abbott told the Commons: 'Julian Assange is not being pursued to protect US national security.
'He is being pursued because he has exposed wrongdoing by US administrations and their military forces.'
US whistleblower Snowden warned the arrest was a 'dark moment for press freedom,' while fashion designer Westwood protested outside Westminster Magistrates Court.
Snowden, a former CIA agent tweeted: 'Images of Ecuador's ambassador inviting the UK's secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher of-like it or not-award-winning journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books.'
Snowden is currently living in exile Russia having fled the US after leaking a huge cache of declassified documents back in 2013.
Assange's close friend Pamela Anderson also blasted the arrest on Twitter, calling the UK 'America's b****' and claiming it was a 'diversion from Brexit'.
And the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed the move was 'the hand of democracy squeezing the throat of freedom'.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Abbott said: 'On this side of the House, we're glad that Julian Assange will be able to access medical care, treatment and facilities because there have been worrying reports about his ill health.'
She added: 'Even though the only charge he may face in this country is in relation to his bail hearings, the reason we are debating this this afternoon is entirely to do with the whistleblowing activities of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
'It is this whistleblowing activity into illegal wars, mass murder, murder of civilians and corruption on a grand scale that has put Julian Assange in the crosshairs of the US administration.
'It is for this reason that they have once more issued an extradition warrant against Mr Assange.'
She also compared his case to that of Gary McKinnon, who hacked into US military computers from the bedroom of his North London flat.
Labour spokesman Seumas Milne was spotted canoodling with Julian Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson at Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch in June 2017 (pictured)
It came as Mr Corbyn dodged the opportunity to praise the arrest when it was brought up in Parliament by Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday.
Julian Assange's lawyer - who was once pictured nuzzling Labour spokesman Seamus Milne - has endorsed the party leader's call for the UK to oppose the extradition of the WikiLeaks hacker.
Ms Abbott claimed a 'UN panel' ruled Assange was being 'arbitrarily detained and should be allowed to walk free' from the Ecuadorian embassy.
In response, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said 'the whole country will be pretty astounded by the tone she has taken', saying Ms Abbott was 'suggesting that we should not apply the rule of law to an individual'.
He accused her of 'not giving quite correct information' over her claims the UN had ruled in Assange's favour, saying 'the UN has no view on the Assange case'.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the US was leading an attack on the press and freedom of speech by arresting Assange, and the slammed the British government for cooperating.
Speaking on Sky News, he said: 'What Julian Assange did was publish information that had been leaked by Chelsea Manning.
'He was not the leaker. He published the information in the same way the Guardian did and the New York Times did.
Corbyn (pictured yesterday) urged the UK government not to extradite Assange to the US
'But the Trump administration is not going after the Guardian or the New York Times, they are after Julian Assange.
'What he published was the truth and the American government and military should be accountable.
'The American people have a right to know. It's thanks to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange that they know war crimes were committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and there was government duplicity.
'Julian Assange has performed a great public service and far from being a criminal, he is a hero.'
He added: 'I find it shocking that the British government is doing the American government's bidding.
'We should not be consorting and colluding with a regime in America that is suppressing freedom of expression and press freedom. This is an attack upon the right to publish.
'The Trump administration has pursued him with a particular viciousness. They have made it very, very clear they want him prosecuted and they want him jailed.'
But Mr Tatchell said he did not defend Assange over the allegations of rape and sexual assault and said he should face those charges.
He said: 'The Swedish allegations are a different issue. I have always said Julian Assange should face those charges and he has always been willing to. Now it is up to the Swedish authorities.
'I don't defend him over that, but I do defend him as someone who exposed US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.'
On his potential punishment for skipping bail, Mr Tatchell added: 'He has already de facto served seven years' incarceration in the Ecuadorean embassy so I would hope a British judge would adopt a lenient approach to the charge of skipping bail.
'Obviously he should face punishment but there's no need to be severe and it is not in the British public interest to pursue him.
'The main reason he stayed there was because he feared extradition to the US, for which he didn't even know the charges.
'There were people there calling for his life imprisonment so it is understandable he feared that he would be extradited to face major charges that would put him in prison for the rest of his life.'
According to court documents unsealed today, the charge relates to Assange's alleged role in 'one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the US' and he faces a maximum jail term of five years.
Today he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court where he was found guilty of a further charge of failing to surrender following an extradition order from Sweden in 2011, following rape allegations made the year before.
Earlier today, Assange, sporting a scruffy beard and unkempt hair, was dragged out of the embassy in handcuffs by a group of seven men as his stunned supporters watched on as he screamed out 'the UK must resist'.
It comes after Ecuador dramatically withdrew Assange's asylum status after seven years, blaming the Australian's 'discourteous and aggressive behaviour' in continuing to work with WikiLeaks while housed at the embassy.
In a statement today, Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno accused Assange of violating the terms of his asylum by 'interfering in internal affairs of other states' as well as 'blocking security cameras' and 'mistreating guards'.
Diane Abbott's interview on Julian Assange - the full transcript:
Abbott (pictured) sparked fury with her remarks about Assange today
John Humphrys: 'You are blocking, wanting to block, his extradition to the US.'
Diane Abbott: 'It's in the law courts at the moment and we don't necessarily want to pre-empt that. But if you remember the Gary McKinnon case, the Americans insisted on extraditing him. He'd done this massive computer hack but his real crime was to have embarrassed the American military and security services.
'And in the end the then-Home Secretary, Theresa May as it happens, blocked his extradition on what she said were human rights groudns and we think there may be human rights grounds in relation to Assange.'
JH: 'There is a difference of course between Assange and McKinnon and that is McKinnon complied with the law. Once he'd been nabbed he complied with the law. Assange didn't - he skipped bail.'
DA: Yeah but the sentence for skipping bail, I mean, in many cases you get a fine - you'd maybe get 12 months in prison.'
JH: 'The man was suspected of rape.'
DA: 'Those charges were never brought.'
JH: 'Well they were never brought because they couldn't be brought because he wouldn't go back to Sweden.'
DA: 'The allegations were made but the charges were never brought and we all know what this is about. It's not the rape charges, as serious as they are, it is about the WikiLeaks and all of that embarrassing information about the activity of the American military and security services that was made public. That is what it is about.'
JH: 'You say that's what it's about. The reason he went into that embassy was to escape the law and he wanted to escape the law because he was afraid he'd be arrested and yes if he were arrested he was afraid he'd be sent to the United States but he refused to go back to Sweden to face the charges, very very serious charges, against him.'
DA: 'The charges were never brought.'
JH: 'They were never brought because you could not bring them because you cannot under Swedish law charge somebody in their absence.'
DA: 'If the Swedish government wants to come forward with those charges i believe that Assange should face the criminal justice system but if you're talking about the American extradition attempt, which is less about the threat he poses to security in America and more about the embarrassment of the things he's revealed about the am military and security services, we would say that this American extradition attempt, let's see what happens in court but we would say just as in the end we blocked the extradition of Gary McKinnon we should block the extradition of Assange.'
JH: 'It was more than embarrassment wasn't it? Even the Guardian, who published his papers originally, strongly - and i quote them - strongly disagrees with his decision to publish un-redacted documents.
'Everybody believes experts the head of MI6 believe he did enormous damage not just to the US but to the security of this nation.'
DA: 'The Guardian has said more recently that they wouldn't want to see him extradited. He was a whistleblower, now you can argue about -'
JH: 'He jeopardised our security, according to the head of MI6.'
DA: 'Well we will see this in court. But I repeat in the end we blocked the extradition of Gary McKinnon for human rights grounds and I think there may be human rights issues in relation to Assange.
'He is at the very least a whistleblower and much of the information he brought into the public domain it could be argued was very much in the pub interest.'
