Ecuador cuts WikiLeaks founder’s internet access at embassy
LONDON — Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been barred from using the internet or receiving visitors at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he has been holed up for nearly six years, the Ecuadoran government announced Wednesday.
In a statement, Ecuador said it has suspended Assange’s ability to communicate with the outside world because he violated an agreement he signed with his hosts at the end of 2017 not to use his communiques to interfere in the affairs of other states.
“The Ecuador government warns that the conduct of Assange via his messages on social media puts at risk the good relations that Ecuador maintains with the United Kingdom, the European Union and other nations,” the statement said.
Earlier this year, Assange was a supporter of separatist leaders in Spain’s Catalonia region who wanted to secede.
The head of that movement, the former regional president of Catalonia, was arrested over the weekend in Germany. Spanish authorities seek his extradition and return to Madrid, where he faces possible charges of treason and misuse of public funds.
Assange sought refuge at the Ecuadoran Embassy, located in one of London’s most exclusive neighborhoods, in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning about alleged sex crimes. Assange has denied the allegations. Swedish authorities have since shelved their investigation on grounds they could not get access to him.
Earlier this year, Assange lost two legal bids to quash a British arrest warrant that was issued after he skipped bail and fled to the embassy.
Assange has expressed fears that if he leaves the embassy, he will be arrested and extradited to the United States for questioning over WikiLeaks’ role in publishing a trove of classified U.S. documents.
Assange was granted Ecuadoran citizenship late last year, and the government said it has protected him. But in its communique Wednesday, the South American nation seemed to be saying that enough was enough.
This is not the first time his hosts have cut off his access to the internet.
In October 2016, the embassy temporarily denied Assange internet access out of concern that WikiLeaks was interfering in the U.S. presidential election. In the summer of 2016, the antisecrecy site published hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee.
The Ecuadoran government said it cut off Assange’s internet Tuesday.