Ecuador hasn’t restored internet access for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange at its London embassy more than three weeks after Quito imposed “temporary restrictions” following his release of emails stolen from the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s failed Democratic presidential campaign, WikiLeaks said Thursday.
“Assange’s internet connection has not been restored. We have the necessary contingency plan,” WikiLeaks said in a tweet Thursday that linked to an “Ask Me Anything” question-and-answer session on the website Reddit.
“As of [Thursday] his internet connection has not been restored. There has been no explanation, which is concerning,” a WikiLeaks staffer added on the page for the Reddit AMA.
Attempts to verify the claim with the Ecuadorian Embassy were not immediately successful.
Mr. Assange, 45, was granted political asylum by Ecuador in 2012 and has resided inside its London embassy ever since while continuing to participate in WikiLeaks’ operations.
The transparency group’s decision to begin publishing emails last month stolen from Hillary for America chairman John Podesta resulted in the Ecuadorian government saying it has “exercised its sovereign right to temporarily restrict access to some of its private communications network within its Embassy.”
“The Government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states,” it said in an Oct. 18 statement. “It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate.”
Those restrictions were being imposed against Mr. Assange after WikiLeaks published a “wealth of documents” that impacted the U.S. presidential race, the statement said. Ecuador said it made the decision on its own, and the U.S. State Department has denied involvement in the manner.
WikiLeaks has published thousands of emails obtained from Mr. Podesta’s personal Gmail account since Oct. 7, and has continued to release emails on a near-daily basis, notwithstanding Mrs. Clinton losing the presidential race Tuesday to Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Security researchers have since said that the hackers who targeted Mr. Podesta’s account were more than likely responsible for similar breaches in the run up to this week’s presidential election suffered by members of the U.S. political establishment, including the Democratic National Committee and individuals and organizations tied to the Democratic party and Clinton campaign.
The Obama administration said last month that its confident the DNC hack and similar breaches were orchestrated by the Russian government.
“The allegations that we have colluded with Trump, or any other candidate for that matter, or with Russia, are just groundless and false,” WikiLeaks said on Reddit. “We receive information anonymously, through an anonymous submission platform. We do not need to know the identity of the source, neither do we want to know it.”
WikiLeaks said that “many media, including the New York Times, did editorially back one candidate over another. We didn’t and haven’t. We would have published on any candidate. We still will if we get the submissions.”
British authorities have been instructed to act on a Swedish arrest warrant if and when Mr. Assange exits the Ecuadorian Embassy so prosecutors in Stockholm may question him there over 2010 rape accusations. According to Mr. Assange and his supporters, however, Sweden may use such an opportunity to extradite the WikiLeaks chief to the U.S., where he risks being charged with crimes related to his website’s unauthorized publication of government secrets during the last decade.
Mr. Assange will be interviewed Monday about the allegations at the embassy, Sweden announced earlier this week. Pending the results of the interrogation, Stockholm prosecutors may elect to close its investigation of Mr. Assange more than six years after issuing a warrant for his arrest. He has not formally been charged and has denied the allegations.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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