WikiLeaks alarmed after top Democratic party urged Ecuadorian president to "hand over" Julian Assange


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WikiLeaks sounded the alarm on Wednesday after the top Democrat of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House sent a letter to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno urging him to "hand over" Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to "competent authorities".

In a tweet, WikiLeaks complains that Eliot Engel's representative, DN.Y., sent the unsigned letter from the chairman of the GOP's expert group and said it had been done just weeks before the elections mid-term of 2018.

"NEW: the Committee of Foreign Relations of the House of Representatives of the House of Representatives, Democrat but not Republican, is pressuring the President of Ecuador @Lenin for it to hand over the editor of @WikiLeaks @JulianAssange" , says the Wikileaks Twitter account.

Assange has been hiding at the Embassy of Ecuador in London since 2012, avoiding extradition to Sweden, where the authorities wanted to interrogate him about allegations of sexual assault and rape. Sweden has since dropped the investigation, but Assange remained in the embassy, ​​fearing that the US would seek to arrest and extradite him as a result of WikiLeaks' disclosure of classified material.

In the letter sent Wednesday, Engel, along with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former chair of the Committee on External Relations, called for an end to Assange's "impasse".

"We are very concerned about the continued presence of Julian Assange at your Embassy in London and the fact that he received Ecuadorian citizenship last year," they wrote.

Lawmakers also said they were "disturbed" by reports that Assange Internet access was restored. A period of isolation began in March after the Ecuadorian government claimed that Assange had breached "a written pledge to the government at the end of 2017 not to broadcast messages that could interfere with the government". other States ". Follow-up information suggested that Assange be ordered. do housework to regain some of her freedoms.

The bipartisan letter specifically states that Assange "has compromised US national security" on numerous occasions, referring to the publication of stolen documents by Democratic officials.

"He did so by publicly publishing classified government documents as well as confidential documents from people related to the 2016 presidential election in our country," they wrote. "As you yourself have noted, he has repeatedly used his position in the international media to interfere in the affairs of foreign governments such as Spain and the United Kingdom." .

Engel and Ros-Lehtinen also said that Ecuador's willingness to protect Assange had "frayed" the country's relations with "like-minded governments" and Assange "remains wanted by UK authorities for breach of bail" .

They added that Assange "remains a dangerous criminal and a threat to global security, and he should be brought to justice."

Assange was replaced in September by spokeswoman Kristinn Hrafnsson as editor of WikiLeaks.

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