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Restoring Assange internet not a result of UN pressure: Ecuador

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AFP Quito

Ecuador denied on Wednesday reports that UN pressure had forced it to restore communications to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the country's embassy in London.

Ecuador "rejects with indignation" reports that President Lenin Moreno was influenced by meetings with UN officials on the Assange case, the foreign ministry said.

"Ecuador received no pressure from anyone to make the decision," a ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

The foreign ministry said Moreno "did not even talk about the issue of asylum" in meetings last week with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and the UN special rapporteur for Freedom of Expression David Kaye.

Quito blocked Assange's internet and mobile phone access in March after he broke "a written committment" not to interfere in Ecuador's foreign policy.

 

The ministry also rejected as "false" reports that the UN pressured Ecuador into issuing a "special protocol" regulating the "minimum conditions of stay" for Assange.

A protocol governing Assange's stay at the embassy, revealed by Ecuadoran internet site Codigo Vidrio, warns the 47-year-old Australian that further breaches will lead to "termination of asylum."

The website reported that from December, under the protocol, the embassy will no longer pay for food, medical care, laundry and other expenses generated by his stay at the embassy.

Ecuador's decision to cut Assange's communication came days after he used Twitter to challenge Britain's accusation that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent in the English city of Salisbury.

He also criticised the arrest in Germany of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont under a European Union warrant issued by Spain over Puigdemont's failed bid last year to declare independence for his Spanish region.

Ecuador installed a jammer to prevent Assange from accessing email and restricted the number of visitors he can receive.

Assange has been holed up at the embassy since 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there.

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First Published: Oct 18 2018 | 12:05 AM IST

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