Ecuador close to turfing Julian Assange

Ecuador is reportedly going to withdraw asylum for Julian Assange and evict him from its embassy in London where the Australian has been living for the past six years.

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تاریخ: ۳۱ تير ۱۳۹۷ - ۰۸:۴۹

US investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald is reporting Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno travelled to Britain on Friday to finalise the deal.

Under the deal, Ecuador would withdraw protection for the WikiLeaks founder and he would then be handed over to British authorities, Greenwald wrote on his website The Intercept.

Assange has lived in Ecuador's London embassy since 2012, after he breached bail in relation to sexual assault allegations he faced in Sweden. He cannot be arrested inside the embassy.

Sweden has since dropped their case against him, but Assange believes he will be extradited to the US for questioning over WikiLeaks activities if he leaves the building.

A source close to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry confirmed to The Intercept that the deal to hand Assange over within the next several weeks was close to being finalised, if it had not been so already.

Greenwald is best-known for publishing whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations about the US National Security Agency.