Skip to main content

Government campaigned to force Assange out from Ecuadorian embassy

THE British government campaigned and spent more than £20,000 to force Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, a Declassified UK investigation has revealed.

Declassified UK analysed Foreign Office documents as well as the recently published diaries of former Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan, who was a key player in negotiations around Mr Assange.

In March 2018, then-prime minister Theresa May was told to “butter up” Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno in order to get Mr Assange expelled from the embassy, where he was living at the time, the analysis found.

Later in the year, Ms May’s government spent £12,806 to bring Ecuadorian officials to Britain.

Another £8,330 was spent just to bring Defence Minister Oswaldo Jarrin over.

Mr Jarrin’s trip to Britain took place two months before the planned seizure of Mr Assange.

Mr Duncan also arranged a Daily Mail hit piece on the WikiLeaks publisher days after Mr Assange’s forced eviction from the embassy.

The stories used photos from inside the embassy of unwashed plates in the kitchen and alleged that Mr Assange “left soiled underpants stuffed down the lavatory in a fit of rage.”

No evidence was provided for this claim.

Mr Duncan also gave Ecuador’s president a plate from Buckingham Palace gift shop during an official trip to the Latin American country to “say thank you” for handing Mr Assange over.

National security adviser Richard Moore, who is now the head of MI6, was in Ecuador two weeks before Mr Assange was expelled from the embassy.

A Foreign Office spokesperson told Declassified that the department “regularly arranges meetings with ministers and officials from other countries to encourage closer engagement with our international partners and help achieve our foreign policy objectives.”

She added that costs of such visits were occasionally covered on a “case-by-case basis.”

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today