Julian Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 to avoid facing a sexual assault investigation in Sweden. Prosecutors there had issued a European arrest warrant for the WikiLeaks founder related to a 2010 incident, BBC News noted in a timeline of the investigation.
He was arrested in London in December of that year and made bail, and in May of 2012, the U.K.'s Supreme Court ruled that he should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning. Assange entered the embassy the next month and was later granted asylum by Ecuador.
The alleged attack on WikiLeaks also comes just one day before Julian Assange was set to face questioning on the rape charge. A Swedish appeals court ruled last month to uphold the detention order, dismissing Assange's attempt to have the investigation dropped.
"This means that there is at present no reason to set aside the detention order. Julian Assange's claim to that effect shall therefore be refused," the court ruled.
The WikiLeaks founder has expressed disappointment with the ruling.
"We are naturally disappointed that Swedish courts yet again choose to ignore Julian Assange's difficult life situation," his lawyer, Per Samuelson, told the Associated Press. "They ignore the risk that he will be extradited to the United States."
An Ecuadorean prosecutor was set to question Assange on Monday, October 17 on behalf of Swedish investigators.
Assange has said he fears he will be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges if he leaves the embassy, CBS News reported last month.
So far, the alleged attack on WikiLeaks has not appeared to silence Julian Assange. WikiLeaks was active again on Twitter within hours of the attack.
[Featured Image by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Images]