Hackers supporting Julian Assange say they are targeting UK Justice Ministry website

Britain’s Ministry of Justice said Monday it was looking into disruptions on its website, after online activists claimed they hacked into the site as part of a campaign to back WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The loosely-organized group of hackers known as Anonymous claimed it was targeting the ministry’s website to protest Britain’s treatment of Assange, who is taking refuge inside Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sexual misconduct. Ecuador granted the 41-year-old Australian diplomatic asylum last week, but Britain has said it will not grant him safe passage out of the U.K., insisting that it must follow the law and deliver him to Sweden on a binding European arrest warrant.

Assange claims that if Britain extradites him to Swedish authorities, he will be handed over to the U.S. as part of a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the U.S. for revealing a trove of American diplomatic and military secrets. The U.S. says such claims are “wild assertions” that try to deflect attention from the sexual misconduct allegations Assange faces in Sweden.