Assange did spy on his embassy hosts
He ‘kept listening device and attacked staff’
‘Mistreated employees’
JULIAN Assange used bugging devices to spy on officials at the Ecuadorian embassy, it was claimed yesterday.
The country’s president also said the WikiLeaks founder had ‘ hit’ embassy staff and repeatedly violated his asylum conditions.
‘We cannot allow our house, the house that opened its doors, to become a centre for spying,’ said Lenin Moreno.
It emerged at the weekend that Assange had lost his bolthole of seven years after pictures were leaked of Mr Moreno enjoying lavish family holidays in Europe while imposing austerity at home. One that showed him dining on lobster in bed at a luxury hotel caused uproar in Ecuador.
Assange, 47, was accused of leaking the photos along with hundreds of messages, which WikiLeaks has denied.
Mr Moreno has denied that handing over Assange was a reprisal, but in an apparent reference to the leak he told The Guardian: ‘This activity violates asylum conditions. Our decision is not arbitrary but is based on international law.’ He added: ‘He was a guest who was offered a dignified treatment but he did not have the basic principle of reciprocity for the country that knew how to welcome him.’
Speaking also to The Times, Mr Moreno said Assange had ‘ bothered and threatened guards and hit and mistreated employees of the embassy’.
He said he had been given written undertakings from Britain that Assange’s rights would be respected and that he would not be sent anywhere he might face the death penalty.
Meanwhile, the firm hired by the embassy to monitor Assange said it had found listening devices in his quarters.
It also released a video of him skateboarding through the London embassy in a pair of shorts.
Undercover Global SL used ex-soldiers who were paid £1,750 a month by the Ecuadorian secret service to watch over the fugitive. Guards said he would run the water from a tap because he believed British intelligence and the Ecuadorians were listening in. In 2014, a guard found a case containing listening equipment and told the ambassador at the time. The firm said he seemed to be ‘trying to listen in on diplomatic personnel, in this case against the ambassador and his staff, to obtain privileged information which could be used to maintain his status’.
This discovery led to the end of Assange’s internet access.
Staff also feared he had placed a hidden camera on his pet cat’s collar and were annoyed at the way he entertained a stream of Balancing act: Assange on a skateboard in embassy security video. Left, ‘lobster in bed’ snap that embarrassed Ecuador’s leader celebrity visitors. These included Yoko Ono, Lady Gaga, Vivienne Westwood, Pamela Anderson and a drag queen who arrived to celebrate Assange’s birthday and had to be searched for banned objects.
He had been granted asylum in the embassy after skipping bail in 2012 to dodge extradition to Sweden to face allegations of raping one woman and sexually assaulting another.
His lawyer Jennifer Robinson told Sky News yesterday: ‘Ecuador has been making some pretty outrageous allegations to justify what was an unlawful and extraordinary act in allowing British police to come inside an embassy.’ She also insisted that Assange ‘has cooperated with the Swedish investigation’ into allegations of rape and sexual misconduct. ‘This was and is not about avoiding facing Swedish justice. It is about avoiding US injustice,’ she said.
Assange’s father has asked Australia’s prime minister to intervene and help bring him home.
John Shipton, who lives in Melbourne, was shocked by TV coverage showing Assange’s appearance during his arrest. He said: ‘I’m 74 and I look better than him and he’s 47. It’s a shock.’
Assange has been pursued by US authorities since 2010 when he was involved in one of the biggest leaks of classified material in American history.
It included footage of a military helicopter strike that killed civilians and journalists in Iraq.