The United States considered kidnapping WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London after he sought sanctuary there, according to explosive testimony given during an extradition hearing in the United Kingdom.
The claim made in a written statement by a former employee of a Spanish security company alleges the US also considered assassinating Assange, who, in his role with WikiLeaks, made public thousands of classified US documents.
The employee, who was allowed to testify anonymously, claimed US intelligence services discussed both ideas with the company he worked for, which also allegedly spied extensively on Assange and his visitors.
The statement from the witness and another former employee were read out in the Old Bailey in London by Mark Summers, a lawyer helping Assange fight extradition to the US, where he is wanted for releasing classified information.
Assange has not denied publishing the information but insists it was necessary to expose war crimes and other issues and should be protected under legislation that supports freedom of the press.
The Guardian newspaper noted that James Lewis, the lawyer acting for the US government in the case, told the court the testimony was "wholly irrelevant" to the issue of whether Assange should be sent to the US for trail.
The witness claimed the government of Ecuador had hired the company in October 2015 to provide security for the daughters of the country's president and to watch over the London embassy.
He said the company's role changed after a senior manager attended a security-sector trade fair in Las Vegas in the US, where it was awarded a contract with a company owned by a billionaire friend of Donald Trump, according to the Guardian report.
The witness claimed the senior manager returned to the office in Spain and said: "We will be playing in the big league."
Intensive spying on Assange and his visitors then allegedly followed.
"He showed, at times, a real obsession in relation to monitoring the lawyers because our American friends were requesting it," the Guardian quoted the witness as saying of his former boss.
Summers said the company "was acting on instructions from the US intelligence services".
The Bloomberg news agency said the court heard that CCTV cameras in the embassy were modified to allow sound to be recorded, and microphones were hidden in fire extinguishers and a toilet. The Daily Mail newspaper said the witness even claimed to have been asked to take photos of "decorative objects" in a meeting room that might be used to conceal bugs.
Another witness, who also gave evidence anonymously and who had been an IT expert with the company, said he and the senior manager spoke about how switching allegiance from the government of Ecuador to the US was "going to the dark side".
The court was told that, when it looked as if Assange might leave the embassy and relocate to another country, "there was a suggestion that the door of the embassy would be left open allowing people to enter from the outside and kidnap or poison Assange".
Assange sought sanctuary in the embassy in 2012 and was removed by British police in April 2019 after the government of Ecuador said he was no longer welcome.
