Nigel Farage visited Ecuadorian Embassy to meet Julian Assange, Ukip source says

Sources closed to Mr Farage confirmed he was visiting the Wikileaks founder

Jon Stone
Political Correspondent
Thursday 09 March 2017 16:10 GMT
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Nigel Farage has been spotted visiting the Ecuadorian embassy in West London – where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been claiming diplomatic asylum since 2012.

A source close to Mr Farage confirmed to The Independent that the Ukip politician was at the embassy to visit Mr Assange.

Mr Farage, who reportedly stayed in the building for 40 minutes, was photographed emerging from the embassy, which is near the Harrods department store, accompanied by the producer of his LBC Radio programme, Christian Mitchell.

He initially told the BuzzFeed News website that he could not remember what he had been doing inside the building, adding: “I never discuss where I go or who I see.”

Mr Farage, the former leader of Ukip who still leads the party’s group of MEPs, has no known links to Ecuador.

The Ukip politician enjoys a cordial relationship with US president Donald Trump and had reportedly offered to act as a go-between between the President’s administration and the UK.

Mr Assange has meanwhile been accused of sympathy for Mr Trump. In January this year he said that he believed the outgoing administration of Barack Obama had been “trying to delegitimise the Trump administration as it goes into the White House”.

Mr Assange, an Australian political activist, entered the embassy in June of 2012 to claim diplomatic asylum. His entry into the embassy came the month after the UK Supreme Court ruled that he should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of rape and molestation. He denies the allegations against him.

In February last year a UN panel ruled that Mr Assange had been “arbitrarily detained” by UK and Swedish authorities since 2010.

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