WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said yesterday that its founder Julian Assange’s internet was shut down by the government of Ecuador, deflecting blame from the US or British governments which have sparred with Assange for releasing sensitive material.
“We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet access Saturday, 5 pm GMT, shortly after publication of (Hillary) Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speechs (sic),” the statement from WikiLeaks said.
Assange has lived and worked in Ecuador’s London embassy since June 2012, having been granted asylum there after a British court ordered him extradited to Sweden to face questioning in a sexual molestation case involving two female WikiLeaks supporters.
WikiLeaks said Assange lost internet connectivity on Sunday night.
“We have activated the appropriate contingency plans,” added the Twitter message yesterday. People close to WikiLeaks say that Assange himself is the principal operator of the website’s Twitter feed.
The Ecuadoran government offered no immediate comment on the question of internet access, but the country’s foreign minister, Guillaume Long, said Assange remained under government protection.
“The circumstances that led to the granting of asylum remain,” Long said in a statement late yesterday.
The government of leftist President Rafael Correa has long backed Assange’s right to free speech, though the Wikileaks saga has caused some strain in relations with the United States, including the expulsion of diplomats in 2011.
Correa, whose term will end next year, has said he is behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who he says he knows personally, in the US presidential election.
“For the good of the United States and the world … I would like Hillary to win,” Correa told broadcaster Russia Today last month.
Over the last two weeks, Democratic Party officials and US government agencies have accused the Russian government, including the country’s “senior-most officials,” of pursuing a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the November 8 election.
