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Julian Assange is to be expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London within hours ordays, according to a "high level source quoted by WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks claimed in a tweet that the Ecuadorian state has an agreement with UK authorities for its founders arrest when he is removed from the embassy.

Assange has been in Ecuador's London embassy since 2012 after he sought refuge there when a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.

A tweet from WikiLeaks on Thursday night read: A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told @WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within "hours to days" using the #INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext--and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest.

Its comes afterEcuadors President Lenin Moreno said Assange has "repeatedly violated" the terms of his asylum in the London embassy, where he has lived for nearly seven years.

Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno (AFP/Getty Images)

Interviewed by the Ecuadorean Radio Broadcasters' Association, he said Assange does not have the right to "hack private accounts or phones" and cannot intervene in the politics of other countries, especially those that have friendly relations with Ecuador.

Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his legal counsel too many times," Moreno said in the interview in the city of Guayaquil.

"It is not that he cannot speak and express himself freely, but he cannot lie, nor much less hack private accounts or phones."

Moreno did not at the time say whether or not the government would take steps to remove Assange from the embassy

"If President Moreno wants to illegally terminate a refugee publisher's asylum to cover up an offshore corruption scandal, history will not be kind," WikiLeaks said.

Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.

That probe was later dropped, but Assange fears he could be extradited to face charges in the United States, where federal prosecutors are investigating WikiLeaks.

Ecuador last year established new rules for Assange's behaviour while in the embassy, which required him to pay his medical bills and clean up after his pet cat.

He challenged the rules in local and international tribunals, arguing they violated his human rights. Both courts ruled against him.

Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is linked to the Organization of American States, rejected Assange's request that Ecuador ease the conditions it has imposed on his residence in the embassy.

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Julian Assange could be expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy ...

Updated April 05, 2019 16:11:24

WikiLeaks says high-level sources within Ecuador are signalling that Australian Julian Assange will be expelled from the country's London embassy within "hours to days".

In a tweet, WikiLeaks said Ecuador already had an agreement with the United Kingdom for Mr Assange's arrest.

Another tweet, posted an hour later, confirmed it had received "secondary confirmation from another high-level source".

It has been reported that Ecuador's President is trying to surrender the Australian in exchange for debt relief from the United States.

The ABC has not independently verified the WikiLeaks reports.

Earlier this week, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said Mr Assange had "repeatedly violated" the terms of his asylum in the Andean nation's embassy, where he has lived for nearly seven years.

Mr Moreno said Mr Assange did not have the right to "hack private accounts or phones" and could not intervene in the politics of other countries, especially those that have friendly relations with Ecuador.

Mr Moreno made the comments after private photographs of him and his family at a time years ago when they were living in Europe were circulated on social media.

Although he stopped short of explicitly blaming Mr Assange for the leak, the Government said it believed the photos were shared by WikiLeaks.

"Mr Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his legal counsel too many times," Mr Moreno told the Ecuadorean Radio Broadcasters Association.

"It is not that he cannot speak and express himself freely, but he cannot lie, nor much less hack private accounts or phones."

WikiLeaks claimed Mr Moreno's remarks were in retribution for it having reported on corruption accusations against him, although he denied wrongdoing.

"If President Moreno wants to illegally terminate a refugee publisher's asylum to cover up an offshore corruption scandal, history will not be kind," WikiLeaks said.

Supporters of Mr Assange have since gathered outside the embassy in wake of the decision, erecting tents containing teddy bears and lighting candles in protest.

Mr Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.

That probe was later dropped, but Mr Assange fears he could be extradited to face charges in the United States, where federal prosecutors are investigating WikiLeaks.

While the only live criminal proceeding currently involving Mr Assange is his relatively minor failure to appear in court to face the Swedish extradition hearing, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter and founder of The Intercept website Glenn Greenwald believes Mr Assange will still be arrested as soon as he leaves the embassy building.

"He will be arrested on that charge," Greenwald told the ABC's The Signal podcast.

"And the question then is: what would the British authorities do?

"Maybe they will try to throw the book at him by making it a more serious charge that could put him in prison up to a year.

"But the bigger question still is whether the US Government will assert criminal charges against him and seek his extradition to the United States."

Relations between Mr Assange and Ecuador have grown increasingly prickly as the years have dragged on, and the Australian has faced increasing pressure to leave the embassy in recent months.

Suggesting that months of quiet diplomacy between the UK and Ecuador to resolve Mr Assange's situation were bearing fruit, Mr Moreno said in December that "the road is clear for Mr Assange to take the decision to leave".

Mr Moreno last year cut off Mr Assange's access to the internet, ordering him to stick to a new set of house rules, including avoiding contentious political issues, cleaning his bathroom and looking after his cat if he wanted the internet reconnected.

Mr Assange in turn sued, saying his rights as an Ecuadorian he was granted citizenship last year as part of an apparent attempt to name him a diplomat and ferry him to Russia were being violated.

But a judge rejected his request to loosen the new living requirements, and among other stipulations, Assange was warned that if he did not properly feed and take care of his cat, the animal could be sent to the pound.

Ecuador's Government contended the requirements were aimed at peaceful cohabitation in tight quarters in the small embassy, where Mr Assange takes up more than a third of the space.

"It's clear this protocol was issued with strict respect for international law," Jose Valencia, Ecuador's foreign minister, said after the ruling.

ABC/Reuters

Topics:law-crime-and-justice,crime,courts-and-trials,ecuador,australia

First posted April 05, 2019 11:02:38

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Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, reportedly set to be ...

In this file photo taken on May 19, 2017, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks on the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in London. - A heroic campaigner for openness, or an enemy of the U.S. state trying to avoid justice: after a decade in the limelight, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains an evasive and polarizing figure. ((Photo: Justin Tallis, AFP/Getty Images)

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of repeatedly violating the conditions of his seven years of asylum in Ecuador's embassy in Britain.

In a speech to the Ecuadorian Broadcasting Association on Tuesday, Moreno accused the whistleblowing organizationof intercepting phone calls and private conversations and also complained about photos of my bedroom, what I eat, and how my wife and daughters and friends dance.

Mr. Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his legal counsel too many times, Moreno said.It is not that he cannot speak and express himself freely, but he cannot lie, nor much less hack private accounts or phones.

This handout photo released by the Ecuadorean Presidency press office shows Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno speaking during an interview with local radio journalists on Wikileaks founder Julien Assange in Guayaquil, Ecuador on April 2, 2019.(Photo: Andres Reinoso, Ecuadorian presidency, AFP/Getty Images)

While Moreno did not explicitly blame Assange for the hacked calls and provided no evidence, his remarksreflected ongoing tension between Assange and Ecuadoran officials.

The Ecuadorean government, however, has said it believes the WikiLeaksorganization shared the photos that depict a lavish lifestyle anddate back several years, to when Moreno and his family lived in Geneva,The Guardian reports.

WikiLeaks, in a statement, called Morenos charges completely bogus, saying it reported onaccusations of corruption against the president only after Ecuadors legislature investigated the issue.

If President Moreno wants to illegally terminate a refugee publishers asylum to cover up an offshore corruption scandal, history will not be kind, WikiLeaks said in a statement.

Assange, 47,took refuge in the embassy in London 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning aboutrape allegations. Although the Swedishinvestigation was dropped last year,Assange still faces charges in Britain for jumping bail.

Assange, an Australian national, chose to remain in the embassy out of fear that the United States would immediately seek his arrest and extradition over the leaking of classified documents to WikiLeaks by then-U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning.

Assange told The Telegraph in 2013 that he lives in a small office room converted into living quarters, equipped with a bed, telephone, sun lamp, computer, shower, treadmill and a small kitchenette.

The Ecuadoran authorities last year, for the second time, cut off Assange's access to the internet because of concerns that he was damaging the country'sties toBritain and other European nations, purportedly by criticizingSpain's handling of its separatist movement.

It alsorequiredAssangeto pay his medical bills and clean up after his pet cat.

Assange, who was granted Ecuadorian citizenship last year inan apparent effort to designate him a diplomat and allow him to go to Russia, sued Ecuador for violatinghis rights as an Ecuadorian.

He pressed his case in local andinternational tribunals on human-rights ground, but both ruled against him.

The leftist Ecuadorian government that offered asylum to Assange had been embroiled in a diplomatic row with the U.S. involving a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable.

U.S. ambassador to Ecuador Heather Hodges was expelled after WikiLeaks leaked the document that allegedwidespread corruption within the Ecuadorian police force, the BBC reported.

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Ecuador says Julian Assange violated asylum terms in London ...

Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno has accused Julian Assange of violating the terms of his asylum and leaking private photos of Morenos family and friends online in the latest dust-up between the WikiLeaks founder and his increasingly frustrated hosts.

Speaking to the Ecuadorean Radio Broadcasters Association yesterday, Moreno suggested that Assange had been intercepting the presidents private messages and had even leaked photos of my bedroom, what I eat, and how my wife and daughters and friends dance, according to the Associated Press. Moreno reportedly provided no evidence of the hacking.

Assange has been holed up in Ecuadors embassy in London since he jumped bail on sexual assault-related charges from Sweden in 2012. Those charges have since been dropped over a technicality, but Assange still considers himself a prisoner in the embassy despite the fact that hes free to leave at any time. Assange has maintained for some time that he fears hell be extradited to the United States where prosecutors have filed unknown criminal charges against him.

The white-haired shit-stirrer also claims that hes being silenced because his internet access in the embassy was abruptly cut off a year ago. Officials from Ecuador accused Assange of meddling in international politics before his internet access was taken away.

Mr. Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his legal counsel too many times, Moreno said, according to an English translation by Reuters. It is not that he cannot speak and express himself freely, but he cannot lie, nor much less hack private accounts or phones.

Back in January of 2018, Moreno called Assange a nuisance and an inherited problem. Ecuadors previous president, Rafael Correa, was the one to originally grant Assange asylum and Moreno has seemed far less tolerant of Assanges provocative behavior. WikiLeaks has suggested that Morenos real problem is that Ecuadors alleged corruption has been exposed through the so-called INA Papers. Moreno is facing a corruption investigation brought by a rival lawmaker who suggests he took money from a Chinese company for a hydroelectric dam project. The money was allegedly laundered through a shell company in Panama, according to Venezuelan state media.

If President Moreno wants to illegally terminate a refugee publishers asylum to cover up an offshore corruption scandal, history will not be kind, WikiLeaks said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Assange, an Australian national, was given Ecuadorian citizenship in January of 2018 during an attempt to give him diplomatic immunity. Ecuador hoped that the move would allow Assange to leave the London embassy and find refuge in another country, but that plan failed.

Assange previously said that he would leave the embassy in London if whistleblower Chelsea Manning was released from prison. President Barack Obama commuted Mannings sentence shortly before leaving office in 2017, but Assange went back on his promise and said that President Obama only did it to make Assange look like a liar. Last month, Manning was placed back in solitary confinement, a punishment considered to be torture by prisoner advocacy organizations, for refusing to answer grand jury questions about WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks often tweets far-right talking points these days, and Assange has proved to be an unlikely ally of authoritarian-minded leaders around the world, like President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Assange has reportedly turned down dirt on the government of Russia, and the WikiLeaks Twitter account exchanged DMs with President Trumps son Don Jr. in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election. That communication continued after the election as well, when WikiLeaks suggested that President Trump himself should appoint Assange to a position as an Australian government official.

It would be real easy and helpful for your dad to suggest that Australia appoint Assange ambassador to DC, the WikiLeaks account told Donald Trump Jr. via Twitter DM roughly a month after Trump won.

Assanges worldview, already strange by any normal human standards, has led his behavior to become more and more bizarre the longer he stays in the embassy. As just one example, the WikiLeaks team released a statement this past January with a confidential list of things that journalists were forbidden from saying about Julian Assange. The list reads like the rantings of someone whos truly unhinged.

Some things that journalists arent supposed to say about Assange, according to the list released by WikiLeaks:

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange stinks.

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever tortured a cat or dog.

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange does not use cutlery or does not wash his hands.

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange lives, or has ever lived, in a basement, cupboard or under the stairs.

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever played soccer or used a skateboard during week days or office hours at the embassy.

It is false and defamatory to suggest that WikiLeaks or Julian Assange is tied to, or is close to, the Kremlin.

Assange will have been in the embassy for a full seven years this coming June. And its clearly taking a toll on him physically and mentally, as it would anybody. But Ecuador might be the only real friend he has left. And given the constant squabbling, that friendship looks like its about to break for good.

[Associated Press]

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Julian Assange Accused of Leaking President of Ecuador's ...