Equador cut Assange internet after Kerry’s threats

WikiLeaks posted to its Twitter account that the Ecuadorian government bowed to pressure from US Secretary of State John Kerry in the latest twist in the Julian Assange case, awaiting his fate in UK Ecuador’s embassy in London.

The government of Ecuador released a statement on Tuesday night confirming it has “temporarily” cut off Assange’s internet access after the site “published a wealth of documents, impacting on the US election campaign”.

Ecuador was soliciting donations to cover Assange’s legal costs on Tuesday.

WikiLeaks had previously said Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 while fleeing an arrest warrant on sexual assault charges and possible extradition to Sweden, has been unable to access the internet since October 15.

The Ecuadorean statement confirmed the decision was made after WikiLeaks dumped emails now heavily impacting the US presidential election, including leaked messages from the Democratic National Committee and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“The Government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states,” the official communique states. “It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate.”

“Accordingly, Ecuador has exercised its sovereign right to temporarily restrict access to some of its private communications network within its Embassy in the United Kingdom,” it continued. “This temporary restriction does not prevent the WikiLeaks organization from carrying out its journalistic activities.”

The rest of the statement said the decision was made by Ecuador alone without external pressure from foreign governments and “reaffirms” Assange’s asylum within the facility.

The cut was seen as the first official retaliation against the hacker since the organisation started disseminating the Podesta emails. Podesta is chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and previously served as Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton.

WikiLeaks announced it has “activated contingency” plans after Assange’s internet link was intentionally cut off by a state party, WikiLeaks has said in a tweet.

On 7 October 2016, WikiLeaks started to publish thousands of emails reportedly generated from Podesta’s private Gmail account, damaging to the Clinton campaign.

The campaign has accused Russian of involvement, and Vice President Joe Biden told NBC News Friday that “we’re sending a message” to Russian President Vladimir Putin and that wide-ranging “clandestine” cyber operation will commence soon.

According to The New York Times, president Vladimir Putin replied that Russia was being falsely accused. “The hysteria is merely caused by the fact that somebody needs to divert the attention of the American people from the essence of what was exposed by the hackers,” he said.

By law British ministers have the power to strip Ecuador’s embassy of its diplomatic status, although a serious diplomatic fallout would ensue.

Reports that Britain may simply strip the embassy of its diplomatic status, and allowing police officers to enter it and arrest the WikiLeaks founder, have also surfaced.

The British embassy in Quito had written to the Ecuadorian government earlier stating:

“You need to be aware that there is a legal base in the UK, the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, that would allow us to take actions in order to arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the embassy.

“We sincerely hope that we do not reach that point, but if you are not capable of resolving this matter of Mr Assange’s presence in your premises, this is an open option for us.”