Ecuador has suspended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange‘s communication system after he discussed on social media issues that could damage Ecuador‘s diplomatic relations, the government said on Wednesday.
Assange has been living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 2012, when he entered the building to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about allegations of sex crimes, which he has always denied.
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He recently spoke on social media about a diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow and about Catalonia, despite warnings by Ecuador to avoid controversial politics.
Wikileaks editor @julianassange has been gagged and isolated by order of Ecuador's new president @Lenin Moreno. He cannot tweet, speak to the press, recieve visitors or make telephone calls. Ecuador demanded that he remove the following Tweet: https://t.co/uaDAEBKtwR
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 28, 2018
“The measure was adopted in the face of Assange’s failure to comply with a written commitment he assumed with the government at the end of 2017, under which he was obliged not to issue messages that would interfere with other states,” the Ecuadorian government said in a statement.
The statement did not say which communication system it had suspended. In 2016, Ecuador restricted Assange’s internet access for commenting on U.S. internal affairs.
READ MORE: WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange gets Ecuador citizenship after 5 years living in embassy
Ecuador‘s President Lenin Moreno has described Assange as a stone in his shoe inherited from his predecessor and the government has said the situation is “unsustainable.” In December, Ecuador granted Assange citizenship.
The Swedish investigation was dropped in May last year, but Assange, who was on bail at the time when he walked into the embassy, faces arrest by the British authorities for breaching his bail terms should he step outside.
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Assange says the real reason for his legal troubles is the fact that WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic and military secrets, and he fears that if he leaves the embassy he risks being extradited to the United States.
British Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan described Assange on Tuesday as a “miserable little worm” who should leave the embassy and give himself up to British justice.
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