Ecuador cuts Assange’s communications, faces arrest if he leaves London embassy

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FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

Ecuador has suspended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s communication system after he discussed on social media issues that could damage the country’s diplomatic relations, the government said on Wednesday.

Assange has been living in Ecuador’s London embassy since June 2012, when he entered the building to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about allegations of sex crimes, which he has always denied.

He recently spoke on social media about a diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow as well as about Catalonian separatism, despite warnings by Ecuador to avoid controversial political subjects.

“The measure was adopted in the face of Assange’s failure to comply with a written commitment he assumed with the government at the end of 2017, under which he was obliged not to issue messages that would interfere with other states,” Ecuador’s government said in a statement.

The statement did not say which communication system it had suspended. In 2016, Ecuador restricted Assange’s internet access for commenting on U.S. internal affairs.

But a source close to WikiLeaks said that the Ecuadorean government had “placed electronic jammers inside the embassy on Tuesday night to prevent Mr. Assange from tweeting, and communicating over phone and internet generally.”

The source said that the Ecuadorean government had also instructed embassy officials to refuse to allow visitors seeking to meet Assange to enter the embassy.

The source said that the Ecuadorean government had informed a lawyer for Assange that the WikiLeaks founder must stop tweeting about Catalonia and must erase a specific tweet Assange posted on the subject. But Assange refused to delete the tweet, the source added.

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno has described Assange as “a stone in our shoe” inherited from his predecessor and the government has said the situation is “unsustainable.” In December, Ecuador granted Assange citizenship.

The Swedish investigation was dropped last May, but Assange, who was free on bail at the time when he walked into the embassy, faces arrest by the British authorities for breaching his bail terms should he step outside the embassy grounds.

Assange says the real reason for his legal troubles is the fact that WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic and military secrets, and he fears that if he leaves, he risks being extradited to the United States.

British Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan described Assange on Tuesday as a “miserable little worm,” who should leave the embassy and give himself up to British justice.

REUTERS

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3 responses to “Ecuador cuts Assange’s communications, faces arrest if he leaves London embassy”

  1. Niemals Avatar

    This “miserable little worm” still stays ‘locked’ in the Ecuadorian Embassy despite the fact that the Swedish investigation was dropped.

    Ecuador’s President described Assange as “a stone in our shoe” inherited from his predecessor and the government has said the situation is “unsustainable.”

    The Ecuadorean government had “placed electronic jammers inside the embassy to prevent Mr. Assange from tweeting, and communicating over phone and internet generally.”

    What a joke https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/407036bc49dcf955b0e3d5f676b52e16a29495bbc3f9e44717ee3184cdf956a8.jpg “Germany has its first political prisoner”….
    Grounds of arrest: European arrest warrant.

    “Puigdemont was arrested on the basis of the EU arrest warrant for being charged with ‘rebellion’ in Spain.”
    However, rebellion is not a European criminal offense and is not one of the 32 offenses under which the EU arrest warrant requires extraditing.

    Puigdemont’s fate is in the hands of the German judiciary after his arrest on Sunday.
    A court in Schleswig-Holstein must now examine the arrest warrant.
    In principle, extradition can only be refused if the person concerned has already been convicted of the same offense, has not yet reached the minimum age of criminal responsibility or if the offense in the captive country falls under an amnesty. In 2015, more than 16,100 European arrest warrants were issued in the EU. About 5,300 of them were executed.

    “Germany has its first political prisoner”….
    Wake up Julian Assange, you are not
    the Regional President of Catalonia you are just “a stone in our shoe”.

  2. Looks like even the banana monkeys in the Ecuadorian jungle have grown tired of this KGB-steered “freedom fighter” and his moronic antics.

  3. Hind Abyad hat retweetet @roviey Tweet giving it a ????….

    “Free Julian Assange, before it’s too late”, Assange stays ‘locked’ (of his own decision/will) in the Ecuadorian Embassy despite the fact that the Swedish investigation was dropped.
    https://twitter.com/roviey/status/1076289516225339392

    Assange fails with lawsuit in Ecuador No visit, no phone calls, no Internet – for months: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had complained against the conditions of his placement in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Without success.

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