Ecuador calls claims it will revoke Julian Assange's asylum 'fake news'

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is showing “ingratitude and disrespect” to the country that has provided him refuge since 2012, the Ecuadorian foreign ministry said late Friday. That rebuke was delivered as Ecuador denies coordinating with the United Kingdom about the arrest of Assange, who has been sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years, and said it will not revoke his asylum.

"The Ministry of Foreign Relations and Human Mobility categorically rejects the fake news which had been circulated over these last few days on social media — many of which are being disseminated by an organization linked to Mr. Julian Assange, concerning an imminent termination of the diplomatic asylum which has been extended to him" since 2012, according to a statement from the ministry. WikiLeaks maintains that Assange is in danger of being handed over to British authorities in order to deflect attention from leaked documents that have sparked a corruption probe against Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno.

Assange entered the London embassy in 2012, trying to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced charges of sexual assault. The WikiLeaks founder, already notorious for leaking of U.S. diplomatic cables in 2010, subsequently played a key role in Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential elections by released emails stolen from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. Ecuador restricted Assange’s internet access in 2018, in response to the 2016 election interference, and the relationship has worsened as Moreno accused the organization of leaking the documents that gave rise to the corruption scandal. “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 replied this week. Swedish authorities have dropped the sexual assault charges, but Assange could still be arrested for violating the terms of his bail if he leaves the embassy. “Granting diplomatic asylum is a sovereign power of Ecuador, which therefore has the right to grant or terminate it when it deems it justified and without consulting third parties,” the Foreign Ministry said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/ecuador-calls-claims-it-will-revoke-julian-assanges-asylum-fake-news