Ecuadorian Embassy Adds New Rules For Julian Assange — No Visitors, Phone Calls Or Internet

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May 12, 2018

By Aaron Kesel

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained according to the UN for nearly 6 years in the Ecuadorian embassy. Now Ecuador has expanded that arbitrary detainment to solitary confinement by forbidding Assange from any human contact including visitations, phone calls and barring his Internet usage. All without Assange ever being convicted of a crime besides publishing documents exposing corruption and shedding light on the truth.

In March, Ecuador and its leader Lenín Moreno pulled the plug on Julian Assange’s Internet connection. Then, Ecuador further demanded Assange remove a specific tweet referencing a foreign political prisoner Carles Puigdemont. The irony here is that Ecuador accused Assange of “interfering in a state” for mentioning another political prisoner and Assange himself had more of his own rights taken away.

“In 1940 the elected president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, was captured by the Gestapo, at the request of Spain, delivered to them and executed. Today, German police have arrested the elected president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, at the request of Spain, to be extradited,” Assange tweeted.

Now Ecuador has clarified its position on Julian Assange’s asylum by drafting new rules limiting his communications according to WikiLeaks.

Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa confirmed that Assange was still being denied Internet access while talks between the UK and Ecuador to decide his fate are still ongoing.

“He still has no access to the Internet and communications. There is a dialogue, there is a will and an interest to move forward in the solution of that matter,” Maria Fernanda said, according to El Tiempo.

The cut of Assange’s Internet is due to an alleged breach of an agreement to refrain from interfering in other states’ affairs. WikiLeaks has stated that Assange was never under a gag agreement, calling the allegations “entirely false.”

The action, according to Ecuador, was taken following Assange’s breach of a written agreement signed with the Ecuadorian government at the end of 2017, in which he vowed “not to send messages interfering in the affairs of other sovereign states,” the government said in a statement. “The Executive remains open to the possibility of further sanctions in cases of future breaches of the agreements by Assange.”

WikiLeaks believes that the fact their editor is being censored for what Ecuador is stating is “interfering in a state” is a huge step in the direction of “setting a precedent that would outlaw millions of Twitter users, all journalists and more human rights workers.”

Last year, Moreno vowed to stop Assange from revealing further corruption about the United States for the duration of his stay at the embassy, stating he would “gag Assange from revealing further corruption about the U.S.”

It appears now that plan is being actively carried out; and the first thing on the list would be disconnecting the prolific WikiLeaks founder from his fans and friends, not only silencing Assange’s voice but attempting to stifle the transparency given to governments by the WikiLeaks organization as a whole and threatening future publications.

“We granted Assange political asylum because his life was in danger. We don’t have the death penalty in Ecuador. We saw that a citizen of the world – it doesn’t matter who he is – was in danger. That’s why we granted him asylum and it was by and large preserved. I say ‘by and large,’ because it all could have been done more competently by the country on which territory he is now. One thing that is clear is that Assange will have to reduce meddling in the policies of the nations we have friendly relations with,” Moreno said in an exclusive interview with RT Spanish last year.

“And one of the conditions will be to not meddle into the policies of the countries we are friends with. The same as we do not meddle in their policies. Every country has the right to self-determination and sovereignty,” Moreno added.

If the WikiLeaks co-founder and editor fails to comply with those conditions, Moreno said previously there may be changes to the status of Assange’s future asylum.

Although Moreno claims to support Assange’s asylum, he previously said that he would ask him to “be very delicate when he addresses international politics, especially regarding countries with which we have good relations,” reported Latin American news outlet teleSUR.

This comes amid WikiLeaks’ release of the CIA’s Vault 7 and 8 series of documents detailing and exposing various spying and hacking techniques of the agency, including files that show the CIA wrote code to impersonate Russian anti-virus company Kaspersky.

In 2016 Ecuador cut Assange’s Internet after the release of damaging material against Democratic party candidate Hillary Clinton. WikiLeaks noted that this was shortly after its publication of Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speeches.

WikiLeaks has recently faced increased pressure from authorities. Last year, the U.S. Senate considered a bill that would classify WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service” bundled as part of the 2018 Intelligence Authorization Act. Presumably, that classification would authorize the use of force against WikiLeaks.

Then, in late December of last year, the Head Legal Office in Madrid of former judge and WikiLeaks’ chief counsel, Baltasar Garzón, was raided by masked men dressed in all black and the security cameras were taped. Despite the break-in, nothing was taken and the operation was referred to as being “professionally done” by police.

Notably, WikiLeaks has also faced a number of suspicious circumstances happening to its organization; so much so they have released ominous tweets highlighting that none of the organization’s employees or volunteers have any psychological health problems or drug problems that could lead to sudden death.

Not to mention that WikiLeaks – the recently recognized institution of journalism by a UK tribunal – had an incident in 2016 where someone tried to break into the embassy where its founder Julian Assange has been held for the past nearly 6 years illegally.

Shortly before that, WikiLeaks did actually have two strange deaths of lawyers who represented Julian Assange within less than a month of each other: John Jones who died on April 18th, 2016; and Michael Ratner who died May 11, 2016. Jones was found dead on the train tracks at West Hampstead Thameslink station.  Ratner was said by the New York Times to have died of “complications of cancer.”

The official narrative being pushed on Jones’ death was a suicide. However, the publication has seemed to hint there was potential “foul play” involved, tweeting out a ruling by a court last year shortly after the unknown man tried to climb in Assange’s balcony. The inquest found that the death of Jones was not a ‘suicide’, which opens the door to lawsuits.

As journalist and newly Internet Party NZ President, Suzie Dawson, recently questioned in her “Being Julian Assange” mega-article on Julian Assange his situation and WikiLeaks’ history, “we need to ask ourselves whether we are we watching Assange die before our very eyes?” As a result of the silencing of Julian Assange’s outside communication, Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom and Dawson announced a campaign to push the Ecuadorian embassy to give Assange back his communication rights under the hashtag #ReconnectJulian.

Will we all allow the Ecuadorian embassy to systematically bury Julian Assange before our very eyes? Taking away a human rights leader’s voice and his last outlet to reaching the outside world and any type of human interaction, or allow him to be isolated from society entirely and become just a memory?

We demand that Julian Assange’s isolation ends now. Sign the petition and use the hashtag #ReconnectJulian in solidarity to send a message that we won’t allow the silencing of Julian Assange. Dotcom and Dawson are calling on all WikiLeaks supporters in London to protest Assange’s communication cut by rallying outside of the embassy in support of their campaign to reconnect Julian Assange.

The last event calling to #ReconnectJulian was so successful that a new event entitled “Unity4J” has been planned. Although at the time of this report the event wasn’t scheduled; for further information on that upcoming event you can see the Unity4J website here.

#Unity4J – is an upcoming epic online event, featuring innumerous high profile speakers appearing by livestream on rotation. Panelists will give testament to their experiences with and support of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, while calling for Julian to be reconnected to his loved ones and the world, and advocating for his immediate emancipation from his arbitrary detention.

The ongoing deprivation of the human rights of Julian Assange is an untenable situation and a stain on international law and the governments of the West. The baton of previous generations who fought for the freedom of their counterculture icons has passed to us, and it is our turn to raise our voices in sustained protest until Julian is emancipated.

In a world of divide and conquer, uniting people is the ultimate act of resistance. Therefore our goal is to bring together ALL public figures who are supportive of Julian and WikiLeaks, regardless of their individual political views, stances or party affiliations.

The WikiLeaks organization itself is also planning a separate event which will include speeches and a solidarity vigil outside of the Ecuadorian embassy on June 19th. The group is calling for the reconnection of Julian Assange according to the Wikileak’s Twitter account.

Meanwhile, Assange’s mother Christine Assange is calling on all of her son’s supporters over the world to phone, fax, email, write, meet with your politicians to reconnect Assange with the ultimate goal of freeing her son from his illegal detainment.

What’s more, what does that mean for the data WikilLeaks holds as an insurance policy for its founder Julian Assange? As Kim Dotcom said in the #ReconnectJulian live stream in support of Assange “Once again those in power are making a grave mistake.”

The U.S. has been on a relentless crusade against WikiLeaks since May 2010 and considers Julian Assange’s arrest a priority while several politicians have threatened Assange’s life. It has been almost 8 years now since Assange was arrested and detained under one form or another 2 years of virtual house arrest, 6 years confined inside the Ecuadorian embassy and now 46 days of unjustified solitary confinement can be added to that list. The WikiLeaks founder has been in refuge since 2012.

Assange is only allowed limited access to lawyers, Wikileaks noted.

WikiLeaks is facing a second blockade with its U.S. tax-deductible status being threatened after its Vault 7 and Vault 8 disclosures exposing the CIA’s spying and hacking techniques. Assange has recommended WikiLeaks supporters to use cryptocurrency to donate to the organization in order to circumvent the blockade.

Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at Patreon. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Steemit, and BitChute. Ready for solutions? Subscribe to our premium newsletter Counter Markets.


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15 Comments on "Ecuadorian Embassy Adds New Rules For Julian Assange — No Visitors, Phone Calls Or Internet"

  1. Namerri Naame | May 11, 2018 at 3:33 pm |

    WELL, IT’S ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL i ASK, GIVE HIM NOTHING BUT FOOD, WATER, WINE, BREAD, CHEESE AND ALGORITHMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)Patricia JANEČKOVÁ: “Frühlingsstimmen” (Johann Strauss II)

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    [Assange’s future asylum.] SMALL CORRECTION – Assange’s finite asylum.

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    Archetypal Criticism

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    Act of observation
    Category: Quantum Physics

    .

    DARPA Completes Phase 2 of CODE Swarm Demonstration

    .

    The Search for Dark Matter Continues, More Than a Mile Underground

    .

    Big Bang Theory
    crystalinks

    3:33 PM
    05/11/2018

  2. h5mind | May 12, 2018 at 8:07 am |

    The world’s leaders have not only stepped through Alice’s looking glass, they have decided to move there permanently. Imagine a government openly saying they would “no longer allow revelations about crimes” of another government? They are all corrupt hypocrites and liars, and we the people will reap what they sow.

  3. dale ruff | May 12, 2018 at 10:41 am |

    Karma: Assange sealed his fate and lost credibility earned by speaking truth to power and promoting transparancy when he worked to help defeat Clinton and elect Trump.
    He told Megyn Kelley on Fox News that he had material on both Trump and Clinton but would only release the material on Clinton, which resulted in her huge lead of 15 points falling to 8. He now has become a kingmaker, a keeper of secrets, and thus he has betrayed his mission.

    He is paying the price for this betrayal. Ecuador has put up with him for 6 years; now they want him to leave, and who can blame them?

    • Doran Zeigler | May 12, 2018 at 2:48 pm |

      Assange did not have to release any damaging info about Hillary. She left a trail of shit and hostility behind her wherever she went. And, her slimy husband’s reputation didn’t help her either. Through it all, she still won the popular vote, so Assange had nothing to do with her loss. You reasoning does not work nor does it apply to reality. (40% of our presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote. Obviously, the well thought out and well placed “flaw” in our supposed democratic system is bringing the results for which it was designed.

      • dale ruff | May 12, 2018 at 5:33 pm |

        Assange is notoriously anti-Clinton and chose to expose her and protect Trump. His most damaging release happened within hours after the “pussy-grabbing” audio was released and Trump was deep in a sick scandal.

        Your rhetoric exposes your own bias. I myself do not like Clinton and did not vote for her, but that was not on the inflammatory and hate-filled level that you exhibit Just as Trump was facing nasty scandals, Assange released deliberately timed information that sank Cliinton’s huge lead of 15 points to 8.

        You are factually incorrect about our Presidents: In the last 100 years, only 2 have become President after losing the public vote, both in the past 15 years. As for 40% being electing without winning the popular vote, that is incorrect: “Only five US presidents in history have been elected despite losing the popular vote: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump this November.

        Only 9% have gained power without winning the popular vote, and between Harrison and Bush 112 years passed without such a disaster (those who govern with consent are “unjust and illegitimate” according to the Declaration of Independence.

        The Electoral College was designed by slave owners to ensure that they would control the new nation despite being a minority: 10 of the first 12 Presidents owned slaves.

        You need to get a grasp of the facts and history before jumping in again, my friend. Bush was a total disaster and Trump is a trainwreck. As Jefferson wrote, those who rule with consent of the governed must use lies, threats, and violence and such rule leads to “military despotism.”

    • tikibam | May 13, 2018 at 4:41 am |

      So you don’t consider this man’s access to medical care blocked , despite not being found guilty of any crime , a tactic which becomes murder if he becomes fatally ill for denied medical treatment ? How many years can any person survive infected teeth and subsequent pain, from multiple abscesses ? He deserves this from a wholly corrupted British government that has cooperated with the U.S. selling the contrived “ISIS’ they both train and fund using proxy White Helmets & various NGO’s who sell ‘regime change’ by illegally invading and bombing a sovereign country ? British intelligence helped to sell Trump scandal to several bidders , including the FBI , doesn’t this story produce damage the other way ? Clearly, as an American citizen, I truly remain disgusted with the passivity of citizens watching their freedoms quickly being penalized for specific targeted expression while these communist tactics of censorship are routinely parroted by a toxic media cable news monopoly . Many years they paid their star power NEWS molesters and abusers of women, children & anything that moves high salaries, despite being told but ignoring it.

      • lightingstrikesthrice | May 13, 2018 at 6:52 am |

        You’re not wrong and I do not disagree.

      • dale ruff | May 13, 2018 at 7:41 am |

        He has not had access to medical care blocked; Ecuador gave him citizenship, sheltered him for 6 years and asked him not to complicate relations it has with other naitons. He did not comply and so now they are sick of him and want him to go.

        Where did you get the information they are blocking medical care; he has had his internet contact cut off and is barred from visitors, but doctors are not “visitors.” I once honored Assange but he betrayed our trust when he helped elect Trump and thus bears responsibility for bringing great danger in the form of a fascist ruler to the world.

        gizmondo gives the Ecuadorian perspective: “Lenin Moreno, the current president of Ecuador, described Assange as “more than a nuisance” to his nation’s TV stations on Sunday, calling Assange an “inherited problem.” Moreno “inherited” Assange because the previous president, Rafael Correa, was the one to originally grant asylum to the Australian who became an ally of authoritarians like US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

        Assange was in contact with the Trump campaign and released stolen Democratic emails before the 2016 presidential election, but Ecuadorian officials have become increasingly concerned with his interference and controversies around the globe.”

        I have no respect for anyone who helped foist Trump upon the world.
        I have nor respect for anyone who keeps secrets while exposing those he despises. Many many have lost respect, including the Ecuadorians who have made him a citizen and put up with him for six years.

        Assange, in his contacts with Trump Jr, asked him to promote the idea of Australia making Assange Ambassador to the US, thus granting him immunity. Gizmodo summarizes Australian feelings about this proposal in return for his working for the Trump campaign:
        “It seems rather unlikely that Assange’s native Australia would approve of his cozying up to the American president. A majority of Australians (77 percent) believe that the world is more dangerous under President Trump. And given Assange’s role in helping Trump ascend to that office, making the white-haired anarchist an ambassador to anything seems like a non-starter as the world has a good laugh (albeit through gritted teeth) at President Trump’s incompetence.”

        Amen.

  4. Yvonne Forsman | May 12, 2018 at 12:16 pm |

    Am I the only one to remember October 2016, how Assange disappeared from that embassy? Everything else is a lie! Somebody else is running Wikileaks since then, publishing what they want us to know, which was the reason why they either killed him or let him go.

    • lightingstrikesthrice | May 13, 2018 at 6:50 am |

      I concur! I just wrote(or tried to, being censored as I write this). People have forgotten what transpired then. I don’t believe Assange is even in that Embassy, just makes an appearance now and again. The people whom were fleeing for their lives back then, might all be dead for all we know. If Wikileaks hasn’t been compromise, then where’s all the damning emails? Great statement, and I am all aboard this line of reasoning.

  5. ababy | May 12, 2018 at 9:54 pm |

    If your cause isn’t bigger than yourself by now, you failed.

  6. Herbert Dorsey | May 12, 2018 at 10:31 pm |

    Julian Assange will go down in history as one of the great heros of our time. He has been a source of truth as the corporate fascists that control the news media and our governments have poured out a continuous stream of falsehood upon the people of the world. It is not hard to see why they want to silence him.

    • dale ruff | May 13, 2018 at 7:32 am |

      Assange was part of the campaign to degrade Clinton and get Trump elected; he will go down in history as a fallen hero who gained power by speaking truth to power, then became a kingmaker with power to decide the US election and thus betrayed his mission of objectivity. In addition, he went from exposing secrets to keeping them, as he released the material on Clinton and has kept the material on Trump secret.

  7. Garry Compton | May 13, 2018 at 10:04 am |

    Looks like Ecuador had a regime change – any other embassy want a roomy ?

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