U.K. Has Spent £3m To Keep Assange Bottled Up
Laying siege to an embassy is spendy
The cost of a round-the-clock guard outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where Julian Assange took refuge last June, has reached almost £3m, the Metropolitan Police have said.
Scotland Yard estimated costs of £2.3m in pay that would have covered normal duties, and £600,000 on overtime.
The Wikileaks website founder faces extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he denies.
Mr Assange, 41, fears onward extradition to the US.
He believes he could face charges there over the release of top secret documents by Wikileaks, whose publication of a mass of leaked diplomatic cables has embarrassed a number of countries.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?