Ecuador’s government acknowledged on Tuesday that it cut off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s Internet access at its embassy in London after the whistleblowing site published a trove of damaging e-mails from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The foreign ministry said that while it stands by its 2012 decision to grant Mr. Assange asylum based on legitimate concerns that he faces political persecution, it respects other nations’ sovereignty and doesn’t interfere or support any candidate in foreign elections.
U.S. polls in mind
“The government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states. It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favour any particular candidate,” the Ecuadoran foreign ministry said in a statement.
The recognition of the action comes less than 24 hours after WikiLeaks tweeted that Ecuador had cut off Mr. Assange’s access to the Internet on Saturday after the publication of Ms. Clinton’s speeches to Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs.
In messages posted on Tuesday, the group claimed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had personally intervened to ask Ecuador to stop Mr. Assange from publishing documents about Ms. Clinton. Citing “multiple U.S. sources”, WikiLeaks said the request was made on the sidelines of a visit by Mr. Kerry and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa last month to Colombia to show their support for a peace deal with FARC rebels. The State Department denied the allegation and Mr. Correa’s government said it was acting on its own and not ceding to foreign pressures.
