Conditions met for Julian Assange to leave Ecuador embassy in London
QUITO: Ecuador’s president said Thursday that conditions have been met for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to leave the country’s embassy in London, which would end a six-year standoff with British authorities.
“The way has been cleared for Mr Assange to take the decision to leave in near-liberty,” President Lenin Moreno told reporters, explaining that he still had to answer in Britain for violating the terms of his bail.
Moreno, however, said Britain had guaranteed that the 47-yearold Australian would not be extradited to any country where his life would be in danger.
Ecuador has been seeking a way to terminate Assange’s stay for several months, amid souring relations with its embassy guest, who recently sued Quito for restricting his internet access.
Assange, international who gained renown by publishing huge caches of hacked State Department and Pentagon files, has repeatedly expressed fear that Britain would extradite him to the United States to face charges there.
The 251,000 classified cables from US embassies around the world — released by WikiLeaks in 2010 and published by leading international newspapers — embarrassed the Bush administration in Washington and caused ructions in its bilateral relations with other countries.
US prosecutors last month inadvertently revealed the existence of a sealed indictment against Assange, according to WikiLeaks, but it was not known what the actual charges were.
The possible indictment suggested that Washington will seek Assange’s extradition if he leaves the embassy.
There is speculation that the US interest in Assange is connected to the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election that brought President Donald Trump to office. — AFP