Ecuadorian officials reportedly considered smuggling Julian Assange out of their embassy in London by disguising him in fancy dress, in one of a number of plots to evade his police guard stationed outside.
It was also suggested the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, who has been hiding in the embassy since 2012 to avoid a date with Swedish justice, could skip across the Kensington rooftops to a helipad, hide in an out-bound diplomatic mail bag or become lost in the crowds of shoppers in nearby Harrods, according to leaked documents seen by Ecuadorian news site Focus Ecuador.
Assange has lived in a small flat at the embassy for more than three years in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault. The fugitive Australian denies all allegations.
He also fears potential prosecution in the U.S. over his publication of leaked documents from soldier Chelsea Manning, including classified material from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that sparked international outrage in 2010.
The newly published insights into Assange’s life in the embassy including one entry that accuses him of punching a guard after being caught using equipment in a room from which he was barred.
The alleged assault, after which one witness described Mr Assange as “out of control”, spilled out into the corridor and was the topic of a discussion between the ambassador and two embassy security staff, referred to as Mr White and Mr Blue, the report is said to claim.
Although Assange’s account apparently blamed the guard, the report recorded in an analysis and recommendations section that Mr Guest knows “what the limits of his movements are inside the embassy”. It further noted that “we cannot allow these incidents to be repeated, nor any further attacks against personnel who work for the embassy”.
The leak includes images of Assange’s office, attached to an account of a loud crash shortly after 6am. When asked if everything was OK, Assange apparently said that it was, before locking himself in his assigned bathroom with his laptop for several hours.
A source close to Mr Assange told The London Times that a bookcase had fallen by accident, and said: “Julian barely ever takes a drink — anyone that knows him will tell you that.”
Representatives of Assange, Wikileaks and the embassy did not respond to requests by the newspaper for comment.