Wikileaks says Ecuador has cut Julian Assange's internet connection

The whistleblowing website has not revealed any potential motive

Ecuador granted the WikiLeaks founder political asylum in 2012 (Reuters)

Julian Assange's internet connection has been cut off by Ecuador, WikiLeaks claims.

The whistleblowing website has so far released no further information as to a potential motive, but the announcement deflects blame from both the UK and US governments.

WikiLeaks originally accused a “state party” of cutting the internet connection of its founder Julian Assange.

The website’s official Twitter account shared a tweet at 6am this morning claiming Assange’s access had been cut but did not name which state party it was accusing of severing the connection.

In a tweet, the group said the connection had been “intentionally severed”. “We have activated the appropriate contingency plans.”

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy since he was granted political asylum in 2012. His self-imposed exile began to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault.

In 2014, he filed a complaint against the UK and Sweden and said he was being “arbitrarily detained” in the Embassy as he could not leave without being arrested.

The claim comes after Wikileaks began releasing emails allegedly hacked from an account belonging to Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The authenticity of the emails has not been verified.

A spokesperson for the Embassy told The Independent the only person authorised to speak to press was the ambassador who was unavailable for comment.