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Julian Assange at a 2020 London trial
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Simon Dawson / REUTERS
The US secret service CIA is said to have considered kidnapping and murdering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
This is reported by the news site "Yahoo News", citing intelligence sources.
However, there were concerns about the legality of a murder.
The discussion took place at a time when WikiLeaks had published information about the hacking activities of the CIA with "Vault 7".
The internal documents from the CIA's pool suggested that the US secret service had been emulating the NSA bugging service for a long time and that it had its own espionage tools.
The nearly 9,000 documents and files provided an overview of the CIA repertoire of attack tools, including malware such as viruses and Trojans.
In addition, the CIA is supposed to specifically exploit open vulnerabilities in systems, so-called zero-day exploits.
There seemed to be "no limits"
According to Yahoo News, the CIA is said to have been so angry about WikiLeaks' publication of the documents that high-ranking officials asked for "sketches" or "options" on how to kill Assange.
A former high-ranking counterintelligence official reportedly said that during talks with the Trump administration in 2017, there seemed to be "no limits".
Ex-CIA boss Mike Pompeo is said to have pushed the planning ahead.
According to the news site, the research is based on conversations with more than 30 former US officials - eight of whom are said to have described details of the CIA's proposals for the kidnapping of Assange.
The CIA declined to comment.
Pompeo is said to have not responded to a request.
The process of Assange's possible extradition is still ongoing
Assange is currently waiting in London's maximum security Belmarsh Prison for a decision on the US government's extradition request.
The US accuses him of stealing secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning and publishing it on the WikiLeaks Internet platform.
This put the lives of informants in danger in many countries.
If convicted in the USA, he faces a long prison sentence.
Assange escaped extradition to Ecuador's embassy in London in 2012.
There he received asylum and in 2017 he received Ecuadorian citizenship.
The government of the South American country planned at that time to give Assange diplomatic status and thus to be able to get him safely out of the embassy.
Later, however, there were tensions between Quito and Assange.
The Ecuadorian government revoked asylum status in 2019 and Assange was arrested by British police for violating bail.
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