Category: News

Spanish language letter has been delivered to the Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno

Coming hot on the heels of our joint letter bringing together artists, intellectuals and activists predominantly from the Anglophone world, today a Spanish-language open letter signed by 338 intellectuals from 38 countries was delivered to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno.

Coordinated by MST, the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil, the letter calls on Moreno to end the isolation of Julian Assange. It has now been a full week since Assange’s internet access was cut off and his ability to receive visitors rescinded.

The letter expresses the concerns of its 338 signatories that “the security, integrity, mental health and political rights of Assange are being violated.” Earlier this year, two doctors examined the WikiLeaks editor in chief and warned that extended isolation in the embassy — even with internet and visitors — has endangered his physical and mental health.

Over the past week of isolation, delegations including Vivienne Westwood and representatives from Cage have gone to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in order to try to visit the WikiLeaks publisher and been refused. Tens of thousands of supporters have added their names to the petition started by Brian Eno and Yanis Varoufakis. The momentum is growing and the world is watching.

“@JulianAssange is a war hero, he opposed American war crimes” says fashion designer Vivienne Westwood outside Ecuadorian Embassy after the @wikileaks founder’s internet is cut.

MORE: https://t.co/uOvQekzi7F pic.twitter.com/JqcLOS2UBb

— RT UK (@RTUKnews) March 29, 2018

@UK_CAGE Muhammad Rabbani International Director outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London #ReconnectJulian pic.twitter.com/wVZTus5PCw

— Miss Organised Chaos (@shezanahafiz) April 2, 2018

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We call on the government of Ecuador to allow Julian Assange his right of freedom of speech.

If it was ever clear that the case of Julian Assange was never just a legal case, but a struggle for the protection of basic human rights, it is now.

Ecuador has confirmed today that it has suspended Julian Assange’s internet access in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. In a message posted to Twitter, the Ecuadorian government says that the suspension is the result of Assange breaking a late 2017 agreement “not to issue messages that supposed an interference in relation to other States.”

COMUNICADO OFICIAL | El Gobierno de Ecuador suspende las comunicaciones de @JulianAssange. pic.twitter.com/sr4kArFSxw

— Comunicación Ecuador (@ComunicacionEc) March 28, 2018

Courage can confirm that, in addition to having his internet access cut off, Julian Assange is currently unable to receive visitors at the Ecuadorian embassy.

In response to the suspension, Brian Eno and Yanis Varoufakis issued a letter entitled, ‘Restore Julian Assange’s access to visitors and the outside world!’ They write:

it seems that the Ecuadorian government [ ] has been ‘leaned’ on mercilessly not only to stop attempting to provide Julian with a diplomatic route to safety but to drive him out of their London Embassy as well. In addition to US pressure, the Spanish government is also using its leverage over Ecuador to silence Julian’s criticisms of Madrid’s imprisonment of Catalan politicians and, in particular, of the arrest of Catalonia’s former premier in Germany.

The letter concludes by calling on supporters to sign a new petition, launched by DiEM25, calling for an end to Assange’s isolation. Sign the petition here.