Judge rejects WikiLeaks founder plea to cancel arrest warrant
London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had his hopes of freedom dashed on Tuesday when a judge in London upheld a warrant for his arrest on a charge of skipping bail.
The 46-year-old Australian has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 fearing arrest if he leaves the building, potentially paving the way for him to be extradited to the US, reports Xinhua.
Senior District Judge Emma Arbuthnot delivered her ruling on Tuesday at Westminster magistrate’s court in London stating it is in the public interest to pursue him for failing to surrender to his bail.
"I find arrest is a proportionate response even though Assange has restricted his freedom for some years," she was quoted as saying.
"Defendants on bail up and down the country, and requested persons facing extradition come to court to face the consequences of their own choices. He should have the courage to do the same. He appears to consider himself above the normal rules of law and wants justice only if it goes in his favor," added the judge.
Assange moved into the embassy initially to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was wanted for questioning over an allegation of a sexual assault which he has always denied.
The Metropolitan Police hold the warrant for his arrest if he steps outside the compound even though the Swedish authorities have now dropped their investigation against him.
Assange's barrister Mark Summers argued that arresting him was no longer proportionate or in the public interest, saying the years Assange has spent inside the embassy were adequate if the not severe punishment for his actions.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
