Lenn Moreno, the president of Ecuador, has said Julian Assanges asylum status in the countrys London embassy is not under threat provided he complies with the conditions of his stay and avoids voicing his political opinions on Twitter.

However, in an interview with Deutsche Welle on Wednesday, Moreno said his government would take a decision if Assange didnt comply with the restrictions.

Lets not forget the conditions of his asylum prevent him from speaking about politics or intervening in the politics of other countries. Thats why we cut his communication, he said. Ecuador suspended Assanges communications system in March.

Morenos statements come two weeks after an investigation by the Guardian and Focus Ecuador revealed the country had bankrolled a multimillion-dollar spy operation to protect and support Assange, employing an international security company and undercover agents to monitor his visitors, embassy staff and even the British police.

Over more than five years, Ecuador put at least $5m (3.7m) into a secret intelligence budget that protected him while he had visits from Nigel Farage, members of European nationalist groups and individuals linked to the Kremlin.

Earlier this month, Moreno withdrew additional security assigned to the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has remained for almost six years.

Moreno has previously described Assanges situation as a stone in his shoe and repeatedly hinted that he wants to remove the Australian from the countrys London embassy.

In an interview in Quito, the president said granting Assange Ecuadorian citizenship in December last year had not been his idea but that of the foreign minister, Mara Fernanda Espinosa. He had delegated all decisions related to the case to her, Moreno told Deutsche Welle.

I told the foreign minister she should, with complete freedom, choose how to solve the problem. And she chose that system. It wasnt the most suitable, but I respected it, he said.

He denied that external pressure from the United States or any other countries had influenced his governments treatment of Assange whom he said had surpassed the limits of freedom of expression.

Assange had tweeted in support of the Catalan independence movement and challenged the UKs accusation that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of a Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Liberty must be used with a lot of responsibility, Moreno said, without confirming whether or not Assanges access to the internet would be restored.

Rafael Correa, Morenos predecessor who approved of the operation, defended the security measures as routine and modest.

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Ecuador's president says Julian Assange can stay in ...

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Ecuador has accused the UK of making a "threat" to enter its embassy in London to arrest Wikileaks' Julian Assange.

Mr Assange took refuge at the embassy in June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over assault and rape claims, which he denies.

Ecuador says a decision on his claim for political asylum will come later.

The UK Foreign Office says it can lift the embassy's diplomatic status to fulfil a "legal obligation" to extradite the 41-year-old.

In an official note to the Ecuadoreans it said it was "surprised" by media reports that "Ecuador is about to take a decision and proposes to grant asylum to Mr Assange".

The BBC's Tim Reid, outside the embassy, said Ecuador had accused the UK of "intimidating" behaviour and that it was "surprised and disappointed" by what had gone on.

In June, the UK's Supreme Court dismissed Mr Assange's bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.

It was during that fortnight, while on bail, that he sought refuge.

The Wikileaks website he founded published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables that embarrassed several governments, particularly the US's, in 2010.

Mr Assange says he fears that if extradited to Sweden, he will then be passed on to the American authorities.

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A number of police officers are outside the Ecuadorean embassy, in Knightsbridge, where some of Mr Assange's supporters have also gathered.

Three protesters have been arrested outside the embassy after minor scuffles.

The BBC's Stuart Hughes says some of the demonstrators have been chanting: "Julian Assange, freedom fighter."

Protests have also been held outside the British embassy in Ecuador's capital.

Images from Quito showed protesters holding signs saying: "We are sovereign, not colonies" and a union jack being stepped on.

At a news conference in Quito on Wednesday, Ecuador's Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino, said a letter from the UK government had been delivered through a British embassy official.

"Today we received from the United Kingdom an express threat, in writing, that they might storm our embassy in London if we don't hand over Julian Assange," he said.

"Ecuador rejects in the most emphatic terms the explicit threat of the British official communication."

He said such a threat was "improper of a democratic, civilised and rule-abiding country".

He added: "If the measure announced in the British official communication is enacted, it will be interpreted by Ecuador as an unacceptable, unfriendly and hostile act and as an attempt against our sovereignty. It would force us to respond.

"We are not a British colony."

A Foreign Office spokesman said the UK remained "determined" to fulfil its obligation to extradite Mr Assange.

By Arturo WallaceBBC Mundo

It was not a piece of news anyone thought would come from Ecuador - and the style of the announcement came as a great surprise.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino was visibly angry as he lectured the UK government on its diplomatic obligations for several minutes.

The British "threat" to enter its London embassy to capture Julian Assange, however, might accomplish the unthinkable and briefly unite Ecuador's political forces.

Critics of President Rafael Correa have accused the government of not properly handling Mr Assange's case but have also deemed the UK position unacceptable.

They also fear any violation of Ecuador's sovereignty would strengthen Mr Correa and could turn him into a hero. The question now is whether they will let him fight this battle on his own.

"Throughout this process we have drawn the Ecuadoreans' attention to relevant provisions of our law, whether, for example, the extensive human rights safeguards in our extradition procedures, or to the legal status of diplomatic premises in the UK," the spokesman said.

"We are still committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution."

The law the UK has informed Ecuador it could use in the case is the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987.

It allows the UK to revoke the diplomatic status of an embassy on UK soil, which in this case would potentially allow police to enter the building to arrest Mr Assange for breaching the terms of his bail.

The act was introduced after PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984.

The Foreign Office note to Ecuador stated: "We very much hope not to get this point [revoking diplomatic status], but if you cannot resolve the issue of Mr Assange's presence on your premises, this route is open to us."

It also said that it must meet its legal obligations to arrest Mr Assange and extradite him to Sweden.

The note went on: "We remain committed to working with you amicably to resolve this matter. But we must be absolutely clear this means that should we receive a request for safe passage for Mr Assange, after granting asylum, this would be refused, in line with our legal obligations."

The Ecuadorean foreign minister told reporters an announcement on Mr Assange's bid for political asylum would be issued on Thursday at 07:00 local time (13:00 BST).

The BBC's Bridget Kendall said she believed it was "quite likely" that Ecuador would grant Mr Assange asylum because it had reacted strongly to the UK and may not want to be perceived to be buckling under pressure.

However, he could still be arrested if he left the embassy, she said.

Our correspondent could not recall a precedent in which the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 had been used in this way.

And former government lawyer Carl Gardner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme legal advisers would be "urging the most extreme caution".

In 2010, two female Wikileaks supporters accused Mr Assange, an Australian citizen, of committing sexual offences against them while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture.

Mr Assange claims the sex was consensual and the allegations are politically motivated.

In June, judges at the UK's Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal against extradition to Sweden.

An offer by Ecuador to allow Swedish investigators to interview Mr Assange inside the embassy was rejected.

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Julian Assange: UK 'threat' to arrest Wikileaks founder - BBC ...

The president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, has ordered the withdrawal of additional security assigned to the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has remained for almost six years.

The move was announced a day after an investigation by the Guardian and Focus Ecuador revealed the country had bankrolled a multimillion-dollar spy operation to protect and support Assange, employing an international security company and undercover agents to monitor his visitors, embassy staff and even the British police.

Over more than five years, Ecuador put at least $5m (3.7m) into a secret intelligence budget that protected him while he had visits from Nigel Farage, members of European nationalist groups and individuals linked to the Kremlin.

Rafael Correa, the then Ecuadorian president who approved of the operation, later defended the security measures as routine and modest.

However, his successor, Moreno, appears to differ in his view. His government said in a statement: The president of the republic, Lenin Moreno, has ordered that any additional security at the Ecuadorian embassy in London be withdrawn immediately.

From now on, it will maintain normal security similar to that of other Ecuadorian embassies.

Moreno has previously described Assanges situation as a stone in his shoe.

Ecuador suspended Assanges communication systems in March after his pointed political comments on Twitter. Assange had tweeted messages challenging Britains accusation that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Salisbury.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Ecuador to remove Julian Assange's extra security from ...

What a priceless image adorns the current edition of the Hollywood Reporter, featuring former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson vamping it up to the max. Meeting the cameras gaze slightly uncertainly, his arms wrapped awkwardly around her waist, is WikiLeaks emperor Julian Assange. It is a comic masterpiece, which can only be captioned: When ur girlfriends boyfriend plays centre back for Marseille.

The pair, you may recall, are closefriends, and this week Pamela grants the magazine an interview in her home town of Marseille (she lives with French footballer Adil Rami.) The chat is accompanied byashot taken by David LaChapelle in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, in which Julian has voluntarily secluded himself for thepast six years.

First impressions? Well, I suppose its one way to torpedo your no sunlight defence. Hats off to LaChapelle for making it look as though the embassy contains a synthetic sun slightly more powerful than the real one. It was only earlier this year, you might recall, that three doctors penned an article for this newspaper bemoaning Assanges lack of access to proper medical care. Although it is possible for clinicians to visit him in the embassy, this ran, most doctors are reluctant to do so. Perhaps its because hes on the run from the law? Still, the idea he cant find a bent doctor in Knightsbridge is arguably the biggest joke of all. Theres barely anything else, apart from petrochemical mistresses and half the Candy brothers.

Anyway, looking at our two principals, there is a real TV guide feel to this image. Julian and Pamela resemble lead actors in a $10m-an-episode TV show about a Promethean tech boss. Actually, Im not even sure we need to bother developing a new format here. Lets just call it Westworld: Series 7. I love how this show continues to raise unsettling questions.

On the nature of her relationship with Assange, Pamela declines to be fully drawn. Ditto the rumours that she is dating occasional WikiLeaks source Vladimir Putin. What she will say of Assange is that he talks to her about everything. Its not just about politics, she says, even though I do take a lot of notes and its so overwhelming, the information he gives me. Pammy goes on to say that one of the things he talks to her about is the Bible.

I bet he does. Picture the full John Lithgow in Footloose, only if the character never had a learning curve. Ariel needs to stop dancing with this no-good out-of-towner, and Pamela needs to bin Adil. Its all there in thebig book, if only you have the source codes. (Incredible, really, that Julians yet to start his own religion except I suppose hehas in a way, with the Assange bros, who I always look forward to hearing from. Some of the remote threats of violence those guys dish out make you weep for the missed recruiting opportunities. They would be incredible US drone pilots.)

Anyway, back to the Pamela interview. Without wishing to lose you with technical publishing industry argot, it is a study in the absolute wank people will write in magazines. Somehow, punts the writer, while nobody was looking, Pamela Anderson found herself at the centre of the geopolitical universe. I dont think you should even dignify that one with an eyeroll emoji. Even less successful are the attempts to conjure up what we might call la magique of la France. In the morning, we learn of Pamelas tres ordinaire routine, she might make a trip to le petit marche with her vegan grocery list in hand, then perhaps take a boat ride from Cassis to Calanques. Perhaps.

Both interviewer and Pamela are at pains to stress how far she has come. Back in the day, Pamela reveals, she was once paid $500 to attend a party for Donald Trump. And now, well she was invited to hand Putin flowers at his most recent inauguration or I speak at Vladivostok at the economic conference about green energy and a green economy. Plus a change, you might say unless you were the interviewer, who misses the sole justifiable opportunity to wheel out a French cliche.

Given that she is in an uncategorised form of liaison with Assange, a man who has twice been accused of sexual offences, Pamelas thoughts on the #MeToo movement are naturally sought. In summary, it seems to have been the womens fault for not having a Spidey sense about what was about to happen to them in the various rooms. Dont go in that room or if you go in the room, get that role.

The chief point of the chat with the Hollywood Reporter, however, seems to be to raise awareness of Assanges current plight. In March, the Ecuadorians cut Assanges internet, in a thinly disguised bid to get him to do one. He and Pamela havent spoken since.

Over to the interview: Hes cut off from everybody, Pamela says, afrantic note creeping into her voice. The air and light quality [at the embassy] is terrible because he cant keep his windows open and he cant get any sunlight. Even prisoners can go outside, but he cant. Im always bringing him vegan food, but he eats very simply. I talked to him on the phone the day [his internet] was shut off. He sent me an urgent call. And now, nothing. (Remember, kids: he can walk out at any time.)

Incidentally, I often wonder if Pamela and Julian is a case of life imitating high art. As fellow doctoral completists will know, there is an episode of Baywatch set at Seaworld that deals with many similar issues. Pamelas character the legendary CJ Parker finds a sea lion who has been injured by hunters. She forms an intense bond with the creature, nurses and cares for him in seclusion at Seaworld until the moment he must be released from captivity. CJ is very sad about this but she says she knows that the sea lion would be happy, because the bad fishermen who hunted him were now in jail. As he departs, he honks back at her, as if to say, yes, that was precisely the logical place Id got to on the matter, as opposed to: I was only interested in you for the fish.

If only justice could be similarly served on the bad men who made Julian skip bail to avoid answering sexual assault claims (since dropped by the Swedish prosecutor because his evasions meant the investigation could go no further). Hes been wrongly accused of so many things, is Pamelas take. But this is a way of keeping him down and keeping him ineffective. Hes just ruffling the feathers of people that are powerful. I always try to humanise him because people think hes a robot or hes a computer screen or hes not this human being.

But the crowning glory of this characterisation the tinsel on the incel, if you will is the idea that Assange is being denied some kind of movie stardom, because well, because Hillary. Hes so misunderstood, she continues, especially in Hollywood, and really hated, because of the Clinton monopoly on the media.

In one sense, you have to salute Pamela and Julians ability to keep things as sweet as they have. These kinds of relationships are difficult. I read only this week that Charles Bronsons marriage to a former soap actress 30-odd years his junior was on the rocks.

I wonder what went wrong? Is the problem that Bronson is Britains most violent inmate, currently serving a serially extended stretch at HMP Frankland, who recently endangered his parole chances by stripping off, smearing himself in butter, and challenging guards to a fight? Or is it something less specific, like she loves him but shes not IN love with him, or some people grow together but she feels as if theyre growing apart?

Who knows. Lets hope Julian and Pamelas bond is not similarly sundered. Occasionally, our misunderstood sea lion appears on the embassy balcony to honk mournfully about this or that he misgendered Chelsea Manning last year, for instance, on her day of release from actual prison for giving WikiLeaks information. But with Pamelas help, perhaps real freedom is a possibility, and our slippery mammal can one day flap out into the welcoming waters of Knightsbridge for good.

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The ballad of Pammy and Julian Assange - her poor ...

Ecuador has cut Julian Assanges communications with the outside world from its London embassy, where the founder of the whistleblowing WikiLeaks website has been living for nearly six years.

The Ecuadorian government said in statement that it had acted because Assange had breached a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states.

It said Assanges recent behaviour on social media put at risk the good relations [Ecuador] maintains with the United Kingdom, with the other states of the European Union, and with other nations.

The move came after Assange tweeted on Monday challenging Britains accusation that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury earlier this month.

The WikiLeaks founder also questioned the decision by the UK and more than 20 other countries to retaliate against the poisoning by expelling Russian diplomats deemed spies.

Assange has lived in the embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sex crimes he denies. Sweden has dropped the case but Assange remains subject to arrest in the UK for jumping bail and fears he will be extradited to the US for questioning about WikiLeaks activities if he leaves the embassy building.

Ecuador previously cut Assanges internet access in the embassy in October 2016 over fears he was using it to interfere in the US presidential election following Wikileaks publication of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clintons campaign adviser, John Podesta.

In May 2017 the Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, again asked Assange to refrain from commenting on Spains dispute with the separatist region of Catalonia. Assange had tweeted that Madrid was guilty of repression.

As part of a subsequent agreement between Assange and the Ecuadorian government, he is not permitted to send any messages that could interfere with Ecuadors relations with other countries.

Assange sought asylum in the embassy in June 2012 following a series of legal challenges through British courts to a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden. He is technically free to leave but says he cannot because he is in breach of a warrant that was granted to extradite him to Sweden, and faces arrest. Assange has not at any point been charged with an offence under Swedish law but was sought for questioning over complaints of sexual assault by two women in 2010. Assange had raised concerns about Swedish demands that he be questioned in person,fearing extradition to the US.

Assanges comments on the nerve agent attack on double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia prompted the British foreign office minister Alan Duncan to call him a miserable little worm during a Commons debate on Tuesday. Duncan said he should leave the embassy and surrender to British justice.

Assange replied: Britain should come clean on whether it intends to extradite me to the United States for publishing the truth and cease its ongoing violation of the UN rulings in this matter.

If it does this disgraceful impasse can be resolved tomorrow. I have already fully served any theoretical (I havent been charged) bail violation whilst in prison and under house arrest. So why is there a warrant for my arrest?

The former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, and the music producer Brian Eno said in a statement they had heard with great concern about Assanges lost internet access.

Only extraordinary pressure from the US and the Spanish governments can explain why Ecuadors authorities should have taken such appalling steps in isolating Julian, they pair said, adding Assange had only recently been granted citizenship.

Clearly, Ecuadors government has been subjected to bullying over its decision to grant Julian asylum, support and ultimately, diplomatic status.

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Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at ...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lost his Internet access at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on March 27. Assange has been living in the embassy for nearly six years. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

LONDON Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, has been barred from using the Internet at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he has been holed up for nearly six years, the Ecuadoran government announced.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ecuador said it suspended Assanges 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. It was not immediately clear whether visitors would also be stopped.

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.

Ecuador did not cite any examples of this alleged breach.

Assange strongly supported separatist leaders inSpains Catalonia region whosought to secede last year. The head of that movement,Carles Puigdemont, 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 recently tweeted a stream of commentary about Facebooks data breach, President Trumps choice of John Bolton to serve as national security adviser, andallegations that Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi helped finance Frenchpolitician Nicolas Sarkozyssuccessful 2007 presidential election campaign.

[German hacker offers rare look inside Julian Assanges secretive world]

Sources close to Assange revealed that the document he signed does not specifically address his tweeting and advocacy. Instead, Assange agreed to comply withArticle 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which states:

The premises of the mission must not be used in any manner incompatible with the functions of the mission as laid down in the present Convention or by other rules of general international law or by any special agreements in force between the sending and the receiving State.

A WikiLeaks source, who declined to be named because communications with Assange have been cut off, said Assange signed the document when Ecuador was considering making him a diplomat, with all the protections that would imply. Such a move was not taken.

Instead, Wikileaks supporters say Assange sought refuge as a free-speech advocate who now finds his speech muzzled.

Assange, however, specifically sought refuge at the EcuadoranEmbassy, located in one of Londons most exclusive neighborhoods, in 2012to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning about alleged sex crimes.Assange has denied the allegations.Swedish authorities have sinceshelved 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 issued after he skipped bail and fled to the embassy.

Assangehas expressed fears that if he leaves the embassy, he will be arrested and extradited to the United States for questioning over WikiLeakss 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. In its communique Wednesday, the South American nation seemed to be saying enough was enough.

[Ecuador grants Assange citizenship in bid to end London embassy standoff]

Yanis Varoufakis, a former Greek minister, and Brian Eno, a British musician and record producer, saidthey had great concern when they heardAssange has lost access to the Internet and reportedly was no longer allowed to receive visitors.

Only extraordinary pressure from the U.S. and the Spanish governments can explain why Ecuadors authorities should have taken such appalling steps in isolating Julian, they wrote in astatement.

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 WikiLeaks was interfering in the U.S. presidential election. In the summer of 2016, the anti-secrecy site published hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee.

[Assange: WikiLeaks has same the mission as The Post and Times]

The Ecuadoran government saidit cut off Assanges Internet on Tuesday.

In hislatest tweets, posted Tuesday, Assange responded toan insult by Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan.In a debate in Parliament, Duncan called Assange a miserable little worm who should hand himself over to British authorities to face justice.

Assange tweeted in response: As a political prisoner detained without charge for 8 years, in violation of 2 UN rulings, I suppose I must be miserable; yet nothing wrong with being a little person although I'm rather tall; and better a worm, a healthy creature that invigorates the soil, than a snake.

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QUITO, Ecuador Ecuador's government is cutting off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's communications outside the nation's London embassy.

Officials announced Wednesday they were taking the measure in response to Assange's recent activity on social media.

As part of an agreement between Assange and the Ecuadorean government, he is not permitted to send any messages that could interfere with the South American nation's relations with other countries.

Assange has been living in Ecuador's embassy for more than five years.

Ecuador gave Assange asylum after he sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for investigation of sex-related claims. Sweden dropped the case, but Assange remains subject to arrest in Britain for jumping bail.

Though protected by Ecuador, the relationship between Assange and nation's leaders has at times been strained. Ecuador has repeatedly urged Assange not to interfere in the affairs of other countries following his frequent online comments on international issues.

The biggest crisis came in October 2016, when the embassy cut his internet service after WikiLeaks published a trove of emails from then-U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign.

He was also a point of contention in Ecuador's 2017 presidential election when Conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso pledged to evict the Australian within 30 days of taking office, while current President Lenin Moreno said he would allow him to stay. Assange later taunted after Lasso's loss that he would "cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days."

Moreno issued a warning reminding Assange not to meddle in politics he has also called Assange a hacker.

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Ecuador cutting off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's ...

Julian Assange. Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Ecuador has cut off Julian Assange's internet connection in its London embassy and Wikileaks says it's because of a tweet he sent.

The 46-year-old founder of the publishing platform and anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks has lived in the embassy in Knightsbridge, London since 2012, when he took refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden over a rape allegation, which he denies.

Assange maintains that if he were to go to Sweden to answer questions about the allegations against him, he would then be extradited to the US because of his political activities with WikiLeaks.

Last year, Sweden dropped its investigation into the rape allegation but Assange could still be arrested and charged with breaching the terms of his UK bail if he were to set foot outside the embassy.

Assange's active use of Twitter played a part in the Ecuadorian government's decision to cut off his internet connection. In a statement, the government said it acted to remove Assange's ability to communicate with the outside world because it was concerned that his posts risked damaging Ecuador's relationship with the UK and the European Union.

Meanwhile, the official Wikileaks account said on Twitter that Assange was not able to make phone calls, receive visitors, speak to the press, or send tweets, and that Ecuador was demanding he delete a tweet about the arrest of Catalan politican Carles Puigdemont.

WikiLeaks is fiercely controversial and has repeatedly drawn the ire of the US government for its release of classified documents, including internal memos from US embassies and agencies and, in one case, a video known as "Collateral Murder" showing a US helicopter firing on journalists in Iraq.

In the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, WikiLeaks released emails and documents taken from the Democratic Party, dominating the news cycle with headlines unfavorable to the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. The US government has said the documents were stolen by Russian hackers and released to undermine faith in the election and destabilize Clinton's candidacy.

Assange's five years of self-imposed captivity have not been easy. WikiLeaks says he has had health problems but has not left to seek treatment for fear of being arrested. His relationship with his Ecuadorian hosts has also been at times strained. Leaked documents obtained by BuzzFeed in 2015 detailed apparent concerns about his psychological health and included photos of a bookcase strewn across his room in 2013.

Ecuador has cut off Assange's internet before. In 2016, it temporarily deactivated his access over concerns that WikiLeaks' releases were interfering in the US presidential election.

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Ecuador cuts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's internet ...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange talks to supporters outside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has been in self-imposed exile since 2012. Frank Augstein/AP hide caption

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange talks to supporters outside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has been in self-imposed exile since 2012.

The government of Ecuador has cut off the Internet connection for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside its London embassy, saying that he was jeopardizing its relationships with other countries through his posts on social media.

Assange has been living in the embassy there since 2012, when he took refuge because of allegations from Sweden of sex crimes, including rape. He has feared that if he appeared in Sweden he would face extradition to the U.S., where he could be put on trial for the WikiLeaks leak of a massive trove of documents.

Last year, Sweden announced that it was dropping the rape investigation. But Assange is not in the clear, as NPR's Colin Dwyer reported, because there is still an outstanding arrest warrant for him in the U.K. for "failing to surrender in court." A judge upheld that warrant last month.

The source of Ecuador's recent concern appears to be a series of tweets in which Assange suggested that only "circumstantial" evidence suggests Russia is behind the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the U.K. earlier this month. That attack prompted the U.K., the U.S. and more than a dozen European nations to expel Russian officials from their countries.

In a statement, Ecuador said that Assange violated a written contract with its government in late 2017, "for which he's obligated not to issue messages that would interfere with relationships with other nations."

It added that through his social media posts, Assange was putting in danger the "good relations that the country maintains with the United Kingdom, with the rest of the European Union and with other nations."

That prompted Ecuador on Tuesday to interrupt Assange's "external connections," adding that there are other potential measures it could take.

It was clear that Assange's comments angered British Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan, who described him as a "miserable little worm" during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday.

This is not the first time Ecuador has taken steps to limit Assange's Internet. In October 2016, Ecuador said it was temporarily restricting Assange's access in response to leaks of documents that it says impacted the vote. It added that the change "does not prevent the WikiLeaks organization from carrying out its journalistic activities."

At the time, WikiLeaks accused Ecuador of acting under pressure from the U.S. State Department, as NPR's Barbara Campbell reported. State Department spokesman John Kirby denied that claim.

In May 2017, as the BBC reported, "Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno asked Mr Assange to refrain from expressing his public support for the independence campaign in Spain's Catalonia region after he tweeted that Madrid was guilty of 'repression'."

Moreno appears less keen on Assange than does former President Rafael Correa, the leader who initially granted him asylum. According to the AP, Correa "hailed Assange's work, but the nation's current head of state has called him a hacker and warned him not to meddle in politics."

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Ecuador Disconnects Julian Assange From The Internet : The ...

Julian Assanges latest attempt to have his outstanding UK arrest warrant dropped hasfailedin what stands as one of the most blatant and cruel examples of the British legal system being wielded as an instrument of persecution against a man whose only crime is speaking truth to power.

The judge presiding over his case, and who summarily dismissed it, was Lady Arbuthnot of Edrom. Yes, you read that right. In the second decade of the 21stcentury the UK legal system is still dominated by the kind of people whose morning workout consists of flogging the butler. Lady Arbuthnot also happens to be the wife of Tory peer and former junior Defence Minister Lord James Arbuthnot, whose father wasMajor Sir John Sinclair Wemyss Arbuthnot.

By now you should be getting the idea. These ridiculous products of privilege and the British public school system (private education for those unfamiliar with the quixotic and arcane code of the British ruling elite) are the guardians of a status quo of class oppression at home and imperialism abroad. In daring to rip off the mask of civility and moral rectitude behind which they and their masters in the US have long carried out their acts of brutality and barbarity at home and around the world, Assange is on the receiving end of their considerable wrath.

If Julian Assange had been confined to a foreign embassy in Moscow or Beijing for five years, on the same grounds on which he has been confined to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, his plight would have been a cause celebre, sparking calls for boycotts, sanctions, and action at the UN on the part of free speech and prisoner of conscience liberals in the West who are never done excoriating Russia and China.

As it is the UN has already intervened in the matter of the plight of the Wikileaks founder. In February 2016 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentiondeterminedthat thearbitrarydetention of Julian Assange should be brought to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be respected, and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation.

Given that the Swedish authorities dropped their investigation into the original charges of rape and sexual molestation made against Assange in 2010 and which he has always denied and claims were politically motivated the outstanding UK arrest warrant for breaching bail conditions in 2012 which relates to those charges is surely now moot. Julian Assange, you may recall, sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London fearing not extradition to Sweden but to the US over his role as founder and public face of Wikileaks.

In 2018 not only does the threat of extradition to the US continue to hang over him with this outstanding UK arrest warrant, if anything the threat is even greater, what with the part Wikileaks played in disseminating damning facts about Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and the leadership of the DNC in the run up to the 2016 US presidential election. The ensuing Washington liberal establishment rage that has ensued as a result of Clinton losing the election to Donald Trump has been positively volcanic.

Clinton, her supporters, and elements of the Washington establishment claim that the information Wikileaks published came by way of Russian hacking, while Assange and groups such asVeterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity(VIPS), made up of former US intelligence operatives and officials, maintain that the information came by way of a leak within Washington itself. Meanwhile, up to this point, the investigation into alleged Russian hacking, Russiagate, is yet to produce one scintilla of concrete evidence that any such hacking on the part of Moscow took place.

Again, the real crime Julian Assange committed was not breaching his bail conditions but daring to speak truth to power. Wikileaks under his stewardship has become the bte noire of governments, particularly Western governments, revealing the ugly truth of crimes committed by US forces in Iraq, the Wests role in the destabilization of Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of Libya and this is without the part the whistleblowing outfit played in exposing Hillary Clinton as a politician whose record is amonument to mendacity.

Wikileaks is and continues to be a thorn in their side and must be destroyed. Which means that Julian Assange must be destroyed, a man who teaches us that believing you live in a free society and actually behaving as if you do is not the same thing. The former allows you to exist in a bubble of soporific comfort, while the latter is liable to get you confined to a foreign embassy for five years and counting.

The personal toll on Assanges physical and psychological well being as a result of his confinement should not be overlooked. Indeed the toll it is having was recently confirmed by the medical opinion of two clinicians, who upon examining Assange at the embassy in October 2017 renewed calls for him to be granted safe passage to a London hospital for treatment. In anarticlefor the Guardian, the clinicians write:While the results of the evaluation are protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, it is our professional opinion that his continued confinement is dangerous physically and mentally to him and a clear infringement of his human right to healthcare.

It bears repeating: Julian Assange, as was Chelsea Manning, as will be Edward Snowden if he dares set foot outside Russia, is being punished for removing the veil of freedom, human rights, and civil liberties from the face of an empire of hypocrisy and lies. They lied about Iraq, they lied about Libya, they lied about Syria, and they lie every day about the murky relationships between governments, corporations, and the rich that negates their oft made claims to be governing in the interests of the people.

Until Julian Assange is free none of us are.

Read the rest here:
The Scourging of Julian Assange - counterpunch.org