Ecuador Cut Assange Internet Access Over Hillary Email Leaks

Cut-off Began Following Leak of Goldman Sachs Speeches

by Jason Ditz,

Questions about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s sudden disappearance from the Internet over the weekend sparked a flurry of speculation, including some particularlywild theories that Pamela Anderson poisoned him on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

Today, the Ecuador government revealed they were responsible, and that they had cut Assange’s Internet access off because of Wikileaks’ release of emails from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, arguing they didn’t want to be seen interfering with a foreign election.

The details of this decision are unclear, but the Clinton campaign has been heavily campaigning on the idea of WikiLeaks’ releases being a Russian plot to elect Donald Trump, and the Obama Administration has repeatedly presented it as an attempt to influence the election, so it is likely that US pressure was involved in Ecuador’s decision.

WikiLeaks reports that Ecuador cut Assange’s access almost immediately following the organization’s release of paid speeches Clinton gave to Goldman Sachs. The group has insisted it has contingency plans in place, and that Assange’s temporary loss of access won’t impact its operations.

Ecuador granted Assange political asylum in 2012, citing calls from US officials to assassinate him. He has been staying in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since then, as Britain is seeking to arrest him over a Swedish warrant. related to an ongoing investigation, and has not let him travel to Ecuador from the embassy grounds.

http://news.antiwar.com/2016/10/18/ecuador-cut-assange-internet-access-over-hillary-email-leaks/