Ecuador said Oct. 18 that it had cut the internet access of WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange, who is holed up at its London embassy, due to
leaks by the anti-secrecy website that could impact the U.S. election.
WikiLeaks
said Assange lost connectivity on Oct. 16, sparking speculation Ecuador
might have been pressured by the United States due to the group’s
publication of hacked material linked to U.S. Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton.
Ecuador’s leftist government said
WikiLeaks’ decision to publish documents impacting the U.S. election was
entirely its own responsibility, and the country did not want to meddle
in election processes or favor any candidate.
“In that respect,
Ecuador, exercising its sovereign right, has temporarily restricted
access to part of its communications systems in its U.K. Embassy,” it
added in a statement.
“Ecuador does not cede to pressures from other countries.”
Assange
was granted asylum by Ecuador after a British court ordered him
extradited to Sweden to face questioning in a sexual molestation case
involving two female supporters.
WikiLeaks said it activated
“contingency plans” after Assange’s cut-off, and Ecuador said that its
action did not stop the group continuing “journalistic activities.”
Ecuadorean
President Rafael Correa has long backed Assange’s right to free speech
and has also supported Clinton publicly. “For the good of the United
States and the world … I would like Hillary to win,” he told
broadcaster Russia Today last month.
U.S. officials have formally blamed state-sponsored Russian hackers for the hacking of internal emails from the Democratic Party and other institutions.
On
Oct. 17, WikiLeaks accused Ecuador of cutting off Assange’s internet
communications at the behest of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,
citing “multiple U.S. sources.”
The United States denied the allegation.
“While
our concerns about WikiLeaks are longstanding, any suggestion that
Secretary Kerry or the State Department were involved in shutting down
WikiLeaks is false,” U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said
Oct. 18, AFP reported.
