Ecuadorean Embassy Partially Lifts Assange's Internet Isolation

Julian Assange is online after the Ecuadorean embassy in London partially restored the former Wikileaks founder’s internet access after disabling it six months ago.

RELATED: 

WikiLeaks Celebrates 12th Anniversary

“Ecuador rolls back @JulianAssange isolation,” WikiLeaks said in a message on Twitter. The change was also confirmed by Assange’s Australian legal adviser Greg Barns, who called it “a welcome development.”

In a statement, WikiLeaks wrote: Ecuador has told WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange that it will remove the isolation regime imposed on him following meetings between two senior U.N. officials and Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno Friday.

The company’s Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said, “It is positive that through U.N. intervention Ecuador has partly ended the isolation of Mr. Assange although it is of grave concern that his freedom to express his opinions is still limited.

“The U.N. has already declared Mr. Assange a victim of arbitrary detention. This unacceptable situation must end. The U.K. government must abide by the U.N.’s ruling and guarantee that he can leave the Ecuadorean embassy without the threat of extradition to the United States.”

Assange has been granted limited access to the internet, mobile phones, and embassy visits.

The move comes nearly six months after the Ecuadorean government suspended Assange’s communications in March after he discussed issues on social media that could damage the country’s diplomatic relations, including a diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow as well as Catalonian separatism.

Assange accepted political asylum from the Latin American country in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questions about allegations of sex crimes which have been dropped. However, friends and supporters say Assange fears arrested and eventual extradition to the United States for publishing a cache of U.S. diplomatic and military secrets on the WikiLeaks website.