Assange in spy ring allegation

DETAINED WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange has been accused of trying to create a “centre for spying” in the Ecuadorean embassy that had given him asylum.

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno, in making the accusation, said no other country had influenced the revocation of Assange’s asylum, which he claimed had followed repeated infractions by Assange (pictured).

Ecuador had allowed Assange to stay in its London embassy for nearly seven years.

But the 47-year-old was dragged out by police in dramatic scenes on Thursday.

He now faces jail for breaching bail, and possible extradition to the US.

Mr Moreno, who became president in 2017, said Ecuador’s previous government had provided facilities within the embassy “to interfere in processes of other states” and “we cannot allow our house, the house that opened its doors, to become a centre for spying”.

“This activity violates asylum conditions. Our decision is not arbitrary but is based on international law,” he said.

The President also made references to Assange’s apparently poor hygiene, following allegations by Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo, which included that Assange had put “faeces on the walls”.

Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, disputed the claims.

“I think the first thing to say is Ecuador has been making some pretty outrageous allegations over the past few days to justify what was an unlawful and extraordinary act in allowing British police to come inside an embassy,” she said.

Assange is now expected to fight extradition to the US over an allegation that he conspired with former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified Pentagon computer.