Live Updates: Assange Faces 5 Years in Jail in US for Hacking

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been charged with "computer hacking conspiracy" in the United States, the country's justice department said Thursday hours after he was arrested by British police in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he had been seeking asylum since 2012.

RELATED: Julian Assange Arrested by British Police After Ecuador Withdraws Asylum

U.S. prosecutors filed conspiracy charges against Assange for trying to access a U.S. government computers containing classified information in 2010, along with former military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

Assange faces a maximum prison sentence of five years, the Justice Department said in a statement. The founder of WikiLeaks was arrested on Thursday by British police and evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy, after the South American country abruptly ended seven years of asylum, in a decision that his followers described as illegal.

Live Updates: 

UPDATE 9:50 a.m. 

On April 4, WikiLeaks said that Assange would be expelled from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, England within "hours to days." The allegation was denied by Ecuadorean authority at that time.

@telesurenglish #FreeAssange | #JulianAssange gives a press conference at Westminster magistrates court. Follow us LIVE on the following link: http://bit.ly/2Z58n1a

UPDATE 9:49 a.m.

Bolivian President Evo Morales condemning the arrest of Assange, wrote on Twitter, “We strongly condemn the detention of Julian Assange and the violation of freedom of speech. Our solidarity with this brother who is persecuted by the US government for revealing its human rights violations, murders of civilians and diplomatic espionage.”

@evoespueblo Condenamos enérgicamente la detención de #JulianAssange y la violación a la libertad de expresión. Nuestra solidaridad con este hermano que es perseguido por el gobierno de #EEUU por revelar sus violaciones a los derechos humanos, asesinatos de civiles y espionaje diplomático.

UPDATE 9:40 a.m.

The arrest of Assange prompted an international outcry. Several legal experts, human rights activists, and several governments decried the arrest of their WikiLeaks co-founder.

@telesurenglish #FreeAssange | Legal experts, human rights activists and several governments decried the arrest of co-founder of #WikiLeaks #JulianAssange in #London at the embassy of #Ecuador

UPDATE 9:30 a.m.

A Downing Street spokesperson said, “There has been a dialogue with Ecuadorean government from the onset. The decision to revoke asylum was one for them entirely. They have set that out.”

The spokeswoman also said that the government and prime minister was already aware of the decision of the Ecuadorean government which led to his arrest Thursday, The Guardian reported.