UPDATE: JULIAN ASSANGE HAS NOW BEEN ARRESTED BY POLICE IN LONDON.
EDITORIAL NOTE FROM DARREN WEEKS, APRIL 7, 2019: The Ecuador embassy has officially denied the claims by Wikileaks that they are planning to oust Julian Assange from the embassy. The following is the statement that was released by Ecuador's ministry of foreign affairs, translated into English by Google translate.
Keep in mind, regardless of what the embassy says, we are only able to hear the embassy's side of the story. We cannot hear Julian Assange's side of the story as they have cut his Internet access. Additionally, according to journalist Cassandra Fairbanks who visited the embassy recently, Assange is not being treated well, and they are imposing compulsory surveillance of his conversations as a condition of access to outside journalists. In addition to cutting off his Internet access, Twitter suspended his personal account. Why? What are they afraid he might say?
Special Counsel Robert Mueller just concluded his so-called "investigation" into alleged Russian collusion / hacking during the 2016 election. Yet, despite the millions of taxpayer dollars that were pissed away, no one from Mueller's "team" apparently made any attempt to interview the key man at the center of the whole controversy — Julian Assange. Why not? If it were a real investigation that really wanted to get to the bottom of claims of Russian hacking / meddling / collusion, why wouldn't someone from Mueller's office fly over to London and talk with Assange to attempt to find out what he knows? It's true that Assange might not reveal his sources, but no effort was ever made to even ask, to our knowledge. Contrarily, instead of allowing him to speak, there appears to be a concerted effort to silence him. Again, what is the Establishment afraid Assange might say?
One final thing: SHAME on Donald Trump for being cowed by the intelligence establishment and their co-horts in the media, and saying that he wants to prosecute Assange! How quickly the President forgets that it was much of the information that Assange published during the 2016 campaign that was so damaging to Hillary Clinton and played a huge role in getting Donald Trump elected. During that time, Trump openly praised WikiLeaks. Now, because of political pressure, the spineless Double Agent Donald has not only abandoned Assange, but turned on him. The worshipful base thinks Trump is a strong president. Please tell this observer where is his strength? I don't see it.
The following is the embassy's translated statement (original story follows):
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility categorically rejects the false news that has circulated these days in social networks, many of them disseminated by an organization linked to Mr. Julian Assange, about an imminent termination of diplomatic asylum granted to him from 2012. These "information" also distort reality by pointing out that Ecuador would have reached an agreement with the United Kingdom to imprison Mr. Assange when he leaves our Embassy in London.
The Ecuadorian Government observes that these falsehoods are, in addition, an attempt to defile the dignity of the country. Ecuador adopts its international decisions in exercise of its sovereignty and with total independence from other countries. 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.
By issuing information that falsifies the truth, the asylee and his associates once again express ingratitude and disrespect towards Ecuador, instead of showing gratitude to the country that has welcomed him for almost seven years, which has made significant expenditures to pay for his stay in Ecuador. the Embassy, which has endured its rudeness and to which, paradoxically, he has prosecuted for adopting a protocol of coexistence to prevent their acts of misbehavior from happening again in the future.
The barrage of insults and false news may respond to the National Assembly of Ecuador, by resolution of March 28, 2019, requested the Minister of Foreign Affairs to seek to determine the participation of Mr. Julian Assange in the President's private information illicit publications of the Republic in social networks. To this effect, the Chancellor filed a complaint with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy of the UN, on April 2, and collected the declaration of the asylee through a questionnaire presented to him by the Embassy in London on March 4. .
The Ecuadorian State reiterates once again that it will apply to the case of Mr. Assange the relevant provisions of international law, especially the Inter-American conventions on diplomatic asylum of 1928 and 1954, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Special Protocol of October 2018. According to that regulation, Mr. Assange has rights but also obligations to comply with and which respect will be required at all times: no person under the jurisdiction of Ecuador is above the Law.
Julian Assange to be expelled from Ecuadorian embassy in London WITHIN HOURS say WikiLeaks
Clive Hammond
The Express
April 5, 2019
JULIAN ASSANGE, the fugitive computer programmer, is set to be expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London “within hours”, a “high-level” source claims.
The WikiLeaks founder has been in the London building since 2012 after seeking asylum there as Swedish police wanted to question him over allegations of sexual assault and rape. [CGA Note: He was never charged over these allegations, and the investigation was later dropped.] WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday night: “A high-level source within the Ecuadorian state has told WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within 'hours to days' using the INA papers offshore scandal as a pretext and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest.” Mr Assange is wanted by American authorities for his role in publishing secret US documents.
