WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was served with an extradition notice on Thursday by British police, BBC reported.
The 40-year-old Australian national, who took refuge at Ecuador’s embassy in London last week and asked for political asylum in the South American nation, was requested to present himself at a police station on Friday morning.
Britain’s Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that the enigmatic founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks should be extradited to Sweden where he is wanted on sex assault charges.
Assange has repeatedly denied the allegations and says the case is politically motivated. He and his supporters fear that he may be extradited from Sweden to the United States, where he could face espionage charges and possible death penalty.
The self-styled anti-secrecy campaigner, whose website is famous for leaking hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables, has been under house arrest in the UK for two years.
Following the extradition notice, the British authorities could send Assange to Sweden within 10 days.
However, “the Metropolitan Police cannot go into the [Ecuadorian] embassy to arrest Mr Assange,” BBC said.
