All Eyes on Ecuador Embassy After WikiLeaks Tweets

It says 2 sources confirmed Julian Assange will be expelled within 'hours to days'
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 5, 2019 6:32 AM CDT
Updated Apr 5, 2019 6:56 AM CDT
All Eyes on Ecuador Embassy After WikiLeaks Tweets
Media gather outside the Ecuadorian embassy, in London, Friday April 5, 2019.   (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, the media wait—to see if Julian Assange leaves the building for the first time since August 2012. It wouldn't be by choice: WikiLeaks on Thursday tweeted the following: "BREAKING: A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told @WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within 'hours to days' using the #INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext--and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest." It followed that up with a second tweet in which it claimed to have "secondary confirmation from another high level source within the Ecuadorian state."

A senior Ecuadorian official counters that, telling the AP no such decision has been made; Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement that it would not comment on "rumors, theories or conjectures." Bloomberg offers plenty of background on the situation, reporting Assange entered the embassy in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where rape allegations had been made against him. Those charges have been dropped, but he's wanted in the UK for skipping bail, and the UK has said it will arrest him if and when he leaves the embassy. As for the reference to the "#INAPapers offshore scandal," WikiLeaks recently highlighted a website that connected Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno with alleged financial improprieties. (Moreno on Tuesday said Assange has "repeatedly violated" the terms of his asylum in the embassy.)

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