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Despite already dismissing several rumours last year he was dead, Mr Assange was forced to confirm he was living and breathing during a live stream Q&A yesterday. There were several reports late last year that Mr Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid a rape allegation in Sweden, was either dead or missing after his internet access was shut down and he appeared to go quiet. While many thought the fears he was dead were just genuine concerns from sympathisers, Mr Assange said the rumour was actually spread maliciously. Speaking ahead of Ask Me Anything session with social media site Reddit, Mr Assange said: "People were placing falsified reports that I was dead so that people would feel we could not be trusted and so they would not give us information anymore."

GETTY Julian Assange says rumours he was dead were a plot to close Wikileaks.


Mr Assange did not specifically say who was behind the plot, but suggested it was an attempt to shut down Wikileaks. Although there is no evidence, many people believe he was referring to supporters of US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as being behind it after Wikileaks released tens of thousands of internal emails from her campaign team during the election. The outgoing Obama administration has blamed the Russian Government for being behind the hacking of the emails and supplying them to Wikileaks, amid claims the negative publicity created gave Donald Trump the keys to the White House. Wikileaks earlier blamed Clinton camp supporters for releasing documents containing allegations that Mr Assange had groomed a child through a US online dating site and been offered a bribe from Russia - claims he vehemently denied.

Wikileaks also suggested pressure from camp Clinton, after it began releasing the emails, led to the Ecuadorian Embassy cutting off his internet access. During the AMA, it became apparent some people still believe he was dead. One of the top-rated questions was a request for proof that the 45-year-old was not dead, even though he was speaking on a livestream video. It asked him to reply with a signed message stating that he was alive and well, and in no serious harm. He should also state the current date and time, and something unique that happened in the news the day before, it said. Finally he was asked to include a long, random number – one which nobody could have predicted in advance of the questions. The digital signature, which would require Assange to use WikiLeaks’ electronic private key, would prove he was who he said he was. But Julian Assange refused, adding fuel to those conspiracy theorists who still feared he was dead.


Mr Assange said: "If anyone bad was in control of WikiLeaks submission key and I was under they could produce such a message providing fake assurance. "So [it’s] useless. But we also do not use our submission key like that and nor would it be appropriate to change how we secure such keys." The Reddit user who posed the question was satisfied by this, concluding from the answer that, in all likelihood, the Wikileaks founder was indeed alive. But they added: "However, However, failing to digitally sign a message with the Wikileaks private key is of great concern. "It is possible that Julian is no longer in control of Wikileaks, as he cannot sign a message with the key." Others pointed out that Assange was appearing on video, but even this was not considered concrete proof that he was alive, with some Reddit users noting that even live video can be faked. One of them commented: "What is being asked here is very easy to do… why wouldn't he just spend five minutes and shut all of the skeptics up?" Another said: "This is one man that did a lot of damage to the most powerful and dangerous nations in the world. NOTHING is out of the realm of possibility at this point."

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