Julian Assange arrested on Sweden's warrant

Julian Assange, founder of the controversial WikiLeaks website that has released some 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables over the Internet, was arrested here Tuesday morning at the request of Swedish authorities who want to question him about allegations of sexual assault, Scotland Yard said.

Assange, 39, voluntarily surrendered to police and was put under arrest, police said. He is expected to appear in a London court later Tuesday, Los Angeles Times says.

Assange founded the WikiLeaks website that has released some 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables over the Internet.

In a statement, the police said: "Officers from the Metropolitan Police extradition unit have this morning arrested Julian Assange on behalf of the Swedish authorities on suspicion of rape."

Mr. Assange denies the charges of sexual misconduct said to have been committed while he was in Sweden in August. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Assange would resist extradition to Sweden for questioning by prosecutors there.

Previously, his British lawyer, Mark Stephens, has suggested Mr. Assange might resist extradition on the grounds that Swedish authorities could interview him by video-link from Stockholm or at their embassy in London and that the extradition request itself is politically-motivated, New York Times reports.