Ecuador threatens to remove WikiLeaks' Julian Assange from its London embassy after infuriating country's president

Daily Mail

9 Jan, 2018 05:38 PM2 mins to read

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, in a November 22, 2009 picture. Photo / File

Ecuador is working on finding a way for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to leave its London embassy after five years.

The South American country is looking for a third-party mediator to help them work out a settlement with Britain regarding Assange, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said Ecuador is "considering and exploring the possibility of mediation" to end the "untenable" five-year stay, the MailOnline reports

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks via video link at Auckland's "Moment of Truth" event. Photo / File

The move by Ecuador comes a few months after its president Lenin Moreno warned Assange to avoid inflammatory political statements and commenting on issues involving the country's allies.

Assange spoke out in support for the Catalan separatists movement, which saw Moreno, who has been president of Ecuador since January, ask Assange to stay out of the Spanish crisis.

Responding to the president on Twitter, Assange accused Moreno of attempting to silence him.

"If President Moreno wants to gag my reporting of human rights abuses in Spain he should say so explicitly -- together with the legal basis," he said.

In this May 19, 2017, file photo Julian Assange looks out the window from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Photo / AP

The president has previously publicly pledged to uphold the activist's asylum "as long as we assume his life may be in danger", but has also dismissed Assange as a "hacker".

Assange moved into Ecuador's embassy in London five years ago to avoid arrest over charges of rape and sexual assault in Sweden.

The charges have since been dropped by Swedish prosecutors, though Assange remains in the embassy.

He has said that he needs to stay at the embassy due to fears he will be extradited to the United States and put on trial for WikiLeaks publishing leaked secret US documents.