(UTV|COLOMBO) – A man with close ties to Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested while trying to leave Ecuador, the country’s interior ministry says.
Interior Minister María Paula Romo did not name the man but said he had been arrested for “investigative purposes”.
An unnamed government official told the Associated Press that the man is Ola Bini, a Swedish software developer.
It comes just hours after Assange was himself arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
“A person close to Wikileaks, who has been residing in Ecuador, was arrested this afternoon when he was preparing to travel to Japan,” Ecuador’s interior ministry tweeted late on Thursday.
The man has lived in Ecuador for several years and has frequently travelled to the country’s London embassy where Assange had been staying, Ms Romo told CNN’s Spanish language service.
“He has been detained simply for investigation purposes,” she said.
An Ecuadorean official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Mr Bini and had been arrested at Quito Airport.
As news of the arrest broke, friends and colleagues of Mr Bini expressed their concern on social media.
“I’m very concerned to hear that [he] has been arrested,” Martin Fowler, a US-based computer programmer, tweeted. “He is a strong advocate and developer supporting privacy and has not been able to speak to any lawyers.”
Earlier on Thursday, Ms Romo held a press conference and said a person with close links to Wikileaks was living in Ecuador.
In response, Mr Bini said on Twitter that her comments showed a “witch hunt” was under way. BBC
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