Ecuador warns of ending asylum for Wikileaks founder

(Baonghean.vn) - A veteran diplomat is calling forEcuadordotendasylumproblemfor co-foundersWikileaks Julian Assange.

Wikileaks boss has been at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for the past four years (Photo: Reuters)

José Ayala Lasso, a three-time Ecuadorian foreign minister and the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the statement at El Comerico.

He stressed that granting asylum to Assange in Ecuador had “affected political activities” when this figure published 20,000 emails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The former diplomat also stressed that “this work carried out with Russian support” is also detrimental to the image of the South American country of Ecuador.

Mr. Lasso also made the accusation that Ecuador granted asylum to “time bomb” Assange in order to create “international fame” and not for humanitarian reasons as the country claimed.

Assange has been living in exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for four years and has been warned that if he leaves he will be extradited to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault charges. The warning also said that if the Wikileaks founder returned to the Nordic country he would also be extradited to the US.

Wikileaks claimed Mr Lasso's comments were also evidence that the Ecuadorian government was under "severe pressure" to censor Assange.

Previously, in an interview with NBC News, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said there was “no evidence” that the leaked emails were related to Russia.

However, Mr. Assange refused to provide specific information about the source of more than 20,000 confidential emails.

WikiLeaks has released nearly 20,000 emails showing the DNC tried to sabotage Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign.

The scandal broke out ahead of the Democratic National Convention, prompting Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chairwoman at the start of the convention./.

Dawn

(According to RT)