UK minister says ‘miserable little worm’ Julian Assange should turn himself in as WikiLeaks editor languishes in embassy
‘It’s of great regret that Julian Assange remains in the Ecuador embassy [in London],’ junior minister Alan Duncan said
Julian Assange was called a “miserable little worm” on Tuesday by a British foreign affairs minister who said the WikiLeaks founder should leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London and give himself up to British justice.
Assange has been living inside the embassy since June 2012, when he entered the building to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about allegations of sex crimes, which he has always denied.
The Swedish investigation was dropped in May last year, but Assange, who was on bail at the time when he walked into the embassy, faces arrest by British authorities for breaching his bail terms should he step outside.
“It’s of great regret that Julian Assange remains in the Ecuador embassy,” junior minister Alan Duncan said during a question-and-answer session on foreign affairs in Parliament’s House of Commons, in response to a question about Assange.
“It’s about time that this miserable little worm walked out of the embassy and gave himself up to British justice.”
Assange responded to Duncan’s comment with a tweet.