Wikileaks Announces Julian Assange Is Replaced As Editor
Unless you have been living under a rock, or possibly in a coma for the last 6 years, you may have noticed that Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks has been in hiding. Well, not literally hiding as everyone knows where he is. He has, however, been for the last 6 years stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy in London trying to fight off extradition to America.
He is, incidentally, also in a bit of hot water with the UK for essentially evading an arrest warrant which was upheld earlier this year.
It seems though that the website he founded has been unable to get in touch with him and as such, via an ironically leaked document, Wikileaks has now confirmed that Julian Assange has been replaced as the website’s editor-in-chief.
6 Months With No Contact
In fairness, the decision does make some sense. They report that due to his circumstances, they have been unable to communicate with him for around 6 months now. While you can have an editor in exile, if you can’t communicate with them, then they’re not really capable of doing the job.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Assange appoints Hrafnsson Editor-in-Chief after six months of effective incommunicado detention, remains publisher [background: https://t.co/2jOgvSu5bG] pic.twitter.com/0Fwvf3SrkL
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 26, 2018
Why Can’t They Speak With Him?
Last March the embassy reported that his internet privileges had been suspended. While he was a highly active user of Twitter, the embassy felt he broke certain conditions. Specifically, that he was not to comment on the politics of other countries. In fairness, it’s a fair point considering he’s hiding in a countries embassy. They would clearly wish to avoid any risk of accidental association with anything he said.
For the moment though, his exact future looks more unclear than ever. What is clear though is that he’s not in charge of Wikileaks. At least, not for the foreseeable future.
What do you think? Should he leave the embassy and face what may come? Should he continue until he’s guaranteed freedom? – Let us know in the comments!
