Previous Story
It’s been reported that Ecuador is preparing to deliver Assange to the United Kingdom
Posted On 23 Jul 2018
Ecuadornews:
The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, will soon be expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has taken refuge since 2012, according to the Slate website, according to which, “several reports state that Ecuador is preparing to withdraw its protection from Asylum to Assange “after six years amidst pressure from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The report, signed by Daniel Politi, quotes British journalist Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept, according to whom President Lenin Moreno is ready to finalize an agreement for Assange’s asylum in London to end in the coming days. Moreno, who took office in May 2017, made it very clear that he does not like too much the role of his country to protect Assange, whom he has described as “hacker”, a “stone in the shoe” for his administration, and an “Inherited problem”. In a sign of growing tensions between Assange and his hosts, Ecuador cut off Assange’s access to the Internet and severely restricted his access to visitors earlier this year.
He also quotes The Times, from London, who reported last week that British officials were “engaged in discussions about the fate of Assange.” And the editor in chief of the Russian news program RT quoted a source who said that Ecuador is preparing to deliver Assange in “the next weeks or even days.” Greenwald, for his part, quotes a source close to the government of Ecuador who says that “Moreno is about to finalize, if he has not finalized, an agreement to deliver Assange to the United Kingdom within the next few weeks.” In fact, Assange’s eviction from the embassy “could come as soon as this week.”
Amid reports of an imminent eviction, RT posted an online video showing how furniture was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which increased speculation about Assange’s future.
Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy after violating his parole in the United Kingdom, after fleeing Sweden on charges of sexual assault and rape. Prosecutors in Sweden have withdrawn the accusations but could still face mayors for violating the terms of bail. More worrisome for Assange is the possibility that the United States will ask the authorities of the United Kingdom to arrest him and extradite him for filtering classified documents. Sources close to Assange say the United States is pressuring Ecuador to evict Assange, even threatening to block a loan from the International Monetary Fund if it continues to allow the founder of WikiLeaks to live in his embassy.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter that if Ecuador evicts Assange from the embassy “it is essential that the United Kingdom does not become part of any US effort to prosecute him for simply publishing classified information in the same way as journalists do it regularly. (I)
