Ecuador tries to oust Assange from embassy after five years
WIKILEAKS whistle-blowing website founder Julian Assange could be kicked out of Ecuador’s London embassy after angering its president.
The South American country said his five-year stay in its diplomatic building was now “untenable” – having previously indicated he could remain as long as he wanted.
Yesterday it was reported that, for the first time, Ecuadorean authorities want a third party to broker a settlement with Britain regarding his future. Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said Ecuador was “considering and exploring the possibility of mediation” to end the “untenable” situation. She added in the capital Quito: “No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the UK, which has also shown interest in a way out.” Assange, 46, has infuriated Ecuador’s leader Lenin Moreno by criticising his allies in Spain’s government and backing Catalan independence.
In reply, Assange tweeted: “If President Moreno wants to gag my reporting of human rights abuses in Spain he should say so explicitly – with the legal basis.”
Moreno had previously pledged to uphold the activist’s asylum “as long as we assume his life may be in danger”.
Assange originally holed up in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid arrest over sex charges in Sweden. They were later dropped but he now fears being extradited to the US for leaking documents.