Published time: 9 Aug, 2018
15:29
Edited time: 10 Aug, 2018
08:43
The BBC has sent a letter to
residents living opposite the Ecuadorian embassy in London, asking if they can
install cameras on their property to cover “the Julian Assange story.”
The letter, a copy of which
was tweeted by the WikiLeaks account, asks “whether you might be willing
to consider the possibility of having access to some of your outside space for
our coverage of the Julian Assange story.”
“We’re looking to install a
small weatherproof camera overlooking the Ecuadorian embassy. We would like to
rent the space on your [property] for access.”
The WikiLeaks tweet also
claims that the “UK government already has several robot cameras pointed
at the embassy steps.”
The letter proceeds to assure
residents that “we will not film anybody in your building; our only
interest is the action outside the embassy opposite.”
A representative of the BBC
confirmed the letter's validity, telling RT: “It is standard practice for
broadcasters to position a camera at newsworthy locations.”
Assange’s visitors have come
under scrutiny since he sought refuge in the building in 2012. In May this
year, the Guardian newspaper and Focus Ecuador purportedly saw logs of the
WikiLeaks chief’s visitors; these included RT journalists, philosopher Slavoj
Zizek, and filmmaker Michael Moore, among others.
Speculation has mounted that
Assange, who has spent more than 2,230 days in the Ecuadorian embassy in
London, might leave the building amid reports of his bad health and worsening
relations with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno.
This latest information about
the WikiLeaks founder, who is expected to leave the embassy “in the coming
weeks,” was broken on August 1 by Bloomberg, which cited “two people
with knowledge of the matter.” The news agency reported that the
whistleblower’s health “has declined recently.”
The news came days after
Moreno announced that Assange must “eventually” leave the embassy. “Yes,
indeed yes, but his departure should come about through dialogue,” the
Ecuadorian president said on the matter.
Rape allegations, stemming
from Assange’s visit to Sweden in August 2010, were the main reason that he
sought refuge in London’s Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012, when a warrant was
issued for his arrest. Assange maintained that he could be extradited from Sweden
to the US, where he would be prosecuted for his whistleblowing and would not
receive a fair trial. Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2017,
but a British warrant for violating bail conditions still stands.
No comments:
Post a Comment