Julian Assange’s Extra Security Ordered Withdrawn by Ecuador President

The President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, has ordered the withdrawal of additional security assigned to the Ecuadorian embassy in London where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is staying for close to six years now.

This comes after The Guardian’s revelation that says the country bankrolled a multimillion-dollar spy operation to protect and support Assange. The investigation further disclosed that the country even employed an international security company and undercover agents to monitor his visitors, embassy staff, and even the British police.

For more than 5 years, Ecuador has spent at least $5 million into a secret intelligence budget that protected Assange. Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa then defended the security measures for Assange describing them merely as “routine” and “modest.”

Moreno seems to support a different view with his instruction to withdraw said additional security detail for Assange. The order covers the instruction that Assange will no longer enjoy “special privileges” in terms of security and protection as Moreno’s government said in a statement: “From now on, it will maintain normal security similar to that of other Ecuadorian embassies.”

Ecuador also suspended Assange’s communication system in March following the WikiLeaks founder’s pointed political comments on Twitter such as messages challenging Britain’s charge that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Salisbury.

Related Coverage:

https://thegoldwater.com/news/26252-Could-Suspected-CIA-Vault-7-Leaker-Have-Been-Set-Up

Moreno has always looked at Assange as a “burden” and was previously quoted as saying Assange situation’s “a stone in his shoe.”

WikiLeaks has been posting messages on Twitter in reaction to the probe of the British media.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Intelligence agents targeted Assange lawyer <a href="https://twitter.com/avilarenata?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@avilarenata</a> (here falsely described as &#39;Spanish&#39;) and Catalan journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/orsoler?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@orsoler</a> as part of intelligence fueled information war on <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianAssange?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulianAssange</a>&#39;s asylum, which has mixed fake and real intelligence r

reports: <a href="https://t.co/7KHII5e6Nz">https://t.co/7KHII5e6Nz</a> <a href="https://t.co/bMHpqnDlnc">pic.twitter.com/bMHpqnDlnc</a></p>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href="https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/997177486826987521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2018</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fabricated intelligence reports, spread as part of the information war on <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianAssange?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulianAssange</a>&#39;s asylum (which has instrumentalized the <a href="https://twitter.com/guardian?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Guardian</a> newspaper &amp; Ecuador&#39;s PlanV), say <a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nigel_Farage</a> visited Assange on multiple occasions including on 28 April 2018 <a href="https://t.co/kZfC1f8Fh5">https://t.co/kZfC1f8Fh5</a> <a href="https://t.co/Brjkg6y9t3">pic.twitter.com/Brjkg6y9t3</a></p>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href="https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/997191201077022720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2018</a></blockquote>

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It is also reacting to reports of security withdrawal for Assange.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ecuador&#39;s president Lenin Moreno says he has ordered the removal of Ecuadorian spies who were spying on <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianAssange?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulianAssange</a> and his visitors under the guise of &quot;&#39;protecting&quot; him–in fact, they were already removed a month ago. <a href="https://t.co/Tnu5mcuCu6">https://t.co/Tnu5mcuCu6</a></p>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href="https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/997361379836350464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Related Coverage:

https://thegoldwater.com/news/25844-Pamela-Anderson-Urges-Kanye-To-Help-Her-Save-Assange-From-Torture

Source:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/18/ecuador-to-remove-julian-assange-extra-security-from-london-embassy