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’.  ADVERTISING

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It came hours after Assange was arrested and dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy when his asylum was dramatically withdrawn by the country.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. 

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Diane Abbott (pictured, right) has sparked fury online after comments this morning saw her accused of ‘dismissing’ sexual assault charges levelled at Assange (left) 

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The lawyer acting for the woman accusing the WikiLeaks founder of rape (left) has been pushing to reopen the case with Swedish prosecutors. The allegations by the woman who said she was sexually assaulted (right) by Assange were dropped in 2017

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Pictured: Assange after he was arrested following a seven-year stay at the Ecuadorian embassy yesterday Video playing bottom right…Click here to expand to full page

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.

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