Julian Assange loses Internet access – The Washington Post

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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Julian Assange loses Internet access - The Washington Post