Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno is not planning to meet with founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblowing organization Julian Assange, who is residing in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, during the president’s upcoming visit to the United Kingdom, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said on July 19.
A source close to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry and the President’s office, who refused to speak publicly, has confirmed that Moreno is close to settling if he has not already settled, an agreement to hand over Assange to the UK within the next several weeks, the Intercept reported.
The withdrawal of asylum and physical ejection of Assange could come as early as this week.
Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 after he was accused of sexual assault. He fears that the charges could be an excuse to extradite him to the United States, where he is wanted for leaking damning Iraq War Logs. In June, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Jose Valencia said that Assange’s asylum cannot last forever.
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