UK determined to extradite Assange in spite of asylum granted by Ecuador
Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK, but Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK would not allow Assange safe passage out of the country.
Ecuador cited fears that Mr Assange human rights might be violated and Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño accused the UK of making an “open threat” to enter its embassy to arrest Assange.
“We are determined to carry out our legal obligation to see Julian Assange extradited to Sweden” said Foreign Secretary William Hague today.
“We are disappointed by the statement by Ecuador’s Foreign Minister today that Ecuador has offered political asylum to Julian Assange.
“Under our law, with Mr Assange having exhausted all options of appeal, the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden. We must carry out that obligation and of course we fully intend to do so. The Ecuadorian Government's decision this afternoon does not change that in any way. Nor does it change the current circumstances in any way. We remain committed to a diplomatic solution that allows us to carry out our obligations as a nation under the Extradition Act.
“It is important to understand that this is not about Mr Assange’s activities at Wikileaks or the attitude of the United States of America. He is wanted in Sweden to answer allegations of serious sexual offences.
“His case has been heard in our Courts. Following the court decision of 30 May this year, he exhausted all legal options available to him in the UK to prevent his extradition to Sweden. He then entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on 19 June. And since then we have worked patiently with the Ecuadorian authorities, both in London and Quito, in private discussions to seek a mutually acceptable resolution to this situation. We have held seven formal discussions as well as many other conversations.
“Given our need to fulfil our obligations under international law to deliver a suspect for questioning on serious offences, we have ensured that the Ecuadorian authorities have a complete understanding of the full legal context in this country.
“It is a matter of regret that instead of continuing these discussions they have instead decided to make today’s announcement. It does not change the fundamentals of the case. We will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the UK, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so. The UK does not accept the principle of diplomatic asylum. It is far from a universally accepted concept: the United Kingdom is not a party to any legal instruments which require us to recognise the grant of diplomatic asylum by a foreign embassy in this country. Moreover, it is well established that, even for those countries which do recognise diplomatic asylum, it should not be used for the purposes of escaping the regular processes of the courts. And in this case that is clearly what is happening.
“Ecuador has expressed its concerns about the human rights of Mr Assange and sought guarantees from us in that area regarding his extradition to Sweden and indeed about any onward extradition and we have painstakingly explained the extensive human rights safeguards built into our law.
“No-one, least of all the Government of Ecuador, should be in any doubt that we are determined to carry out our legal obligation to see Mr Assange extradited to Sweden. He faces serious charges in a country with the highest standards of law and where his rights are guaranteed. We believe that should be assurance enough for Ecuador and any supporters of Mr Assange.
“We will remain fully committed to seeking a legal and binding bilateral solution to this with the Government of Ecuador but it is important that everyone understands that as a nation under law, believing in the rule of law, we must ensure that our laws are respected and followed”.
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And he is only the 'President'.
What a disgusting country.
But the police will get Assange when he leaves the little house he is hiding in. Unless of course they put him in a diplomatic 'bag' and then they will have to wait until he tries to board a plane, but get him they will.
Net effect is Assange is “special renditioned” to the Ecuadorian embassy in London for an indeterminate period. Ecuador feeding him, Britain watching him and the Americans pissing themselves laughing.
Salman Rushdie has more freedom, and Assange hasn’t even been charged with anything yet, much less start any sentence. That is all still to come, one way or another, sooner or later.
Some revenge that is.
Fortunately Britain has little to lose from a dispute with Ecuador, staunch Malvinistas that they are.
All diplomats must be approved by the host country and and can preemptively challenge without cause and claim “persona non grata' at which point that person must be removed from the host country's soil.
Vienna Conventions of Diplomatic Relations -1961.
Equador will be in violation opf international law when Britain refused Assange diplomatic immunity and declares him a ”persona non grata”. I want to see him get to Heathrow
This would be the former Spanish judge who in February was barred from the judiciary in Spain for exceeding his authority and who seems to be claiming Assange is now some sort of refugee.
Let him. The ICJ view is that the right of diplomatic asylum does not exist through customary international law. The UK has no 'obligation' to respect anything Ecuador has to say. By shielding a suspect from a criminal investigation they are abusing the entire notion of diplomatic immunity (not asylum, they are two different concepts).
and the rest,
The only loser here will be democracy,
And the only winners will be the corrupt newspapers selling more papers,
First of, the British government will NOT enter the embassy under the new law it created after the Libyan problem,
If you listened, the British merely stated what it could do, [very silly statement] but there you go,
If and when he leaves he will be arrested, the government can wait years if it has to,
[But it wont get that far]
Yes there has been some underhanded things from Sweden, but that is between the British and Sweden, and nothing to do with south America,
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Ecuador could make him a Ecuadorian citizen, make him a member of staff, and then let him walk free from the embassy as a diplomat,
On the other hand the British could break off diplomatic relations with Ecuador, and give them 14 days to leave the UK,.
Then they may enter the embassy,
All ifs and buts, can we or cant we, legal and illegal,
And the world goes round and round,
Whatever happens, this man has surely made a rod for his very own back,
And Ecuador may well have opened a big can of infectious maggots,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
And now south America is going to discuses this item on Sunday,
Perhaps North Korea and china may have a meeting about it,
No doubt Argentina will get its nose in the door,
And the end result will be what, Britain will do what it intends to do,
Sweden may or may not drop the warrant; the Americans will wait in the wings,
The South Americans will dance in the street for another fictitious victory, and Ecuador
Will look very silly, we thinks.
On the other hand ???????????? who knows .
the world might even go to ???/mmmmm
justa thoughta
Assange's dimwit lawyers, who have failed in every single legal move to date, claim all sorts of things; but there is no legal obligation to give safe passage to either fake political asylees or people seeking to evade criminal justice. .. especially not now that Assange has breached bail conditions and is therefore a criminal in the UK.
As for the so-called lawyer making that claim: a disbarred Spanish judge with no authority to act as a lawyer anywhere in the EU :)
@6 Chatcat
They wouldn't be setting a precedent, because diplomatic privilege is granted by the host nation and can be taken away by the host nation. By the time they enter it will be a former embassy and will have no privilege. The dumb precedent was set by Ecuador in granting political asylum to a man who has not in any way had his political freedoms curtailed.
AND he might face capital punishment.
Whilst the US continues to keep concentration camps like Guantanamo and disregard human rights as they see fit no wonder why Assange is scared shit.
it would be rather contradictory to declare Assange persona non grata only to prevent him leave don't you think?
They can't even make him a diplomat. You only gain diplomatic status when the host country accepts your diplomatic status .. and the chances of the Court of St James's accepting diplomatic credentials for Julian Assange are a big fat zero :)
@12 Troneas
Capital punishment is one thing Assange will never face in the United States, even if the wildest theories of the demented conspiracy theorists come to be. It is illegal under both English and Swedish law to extradite anyone, to any country, if they face the possibility of a death sentence. Such extraditions are routinely refused unless there is a binding guarantee against the death penalty in place.
Of course, the other fact that is constantly edited out by Assange's little army of clueless trolls is that it would be wholly illegal under European law regarding European Arrest Warrants for Sweden to extradite Assange on to the US without the UK's express permission .. and if that was forthcoming he would just have been extradited directly from the UK to the US .. thus bypassing Sweden, from where it is much harder to extradite .
@13 JUBA
Bye bye illiterate imbecile.
Once more South america is shown up for having a huge chip and inferiority complex on its shoulder. how long before the word “colonial” or “imperialist” is used by one of the SA countries?
I bet they are itching to use the word “gringo”.
SA is starting to get way ahead of itself. Its like the little lad in the playground who shouts his mouth off and eventually the big lads come along to show them who is boss.
The British, did not say, they will / or would enter the building,
What they said was, [and a silly statement it was]
They stated that it was an option, under a new law,
That’s all, they never said they would enter,
Its diplomacy at its silliest ,lol.
16 Yomp to victory
Yes you are right, but knowing Ecuador, anything can happen,
She may well be forced to retract her statement, but I think, the south American meeting on Sunday, may have influence over Ecuador’s decision.
[not that it makes any difference ]
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One things for sure, diplomacy wont be the same again ..
.
But I bet they are not far away,
.
No application for extradition has been made in either UK or Sweden (Easier to do from the UK than Sweden). If one was made then it would have to judged on its merits.
Neither UK nor Sweden could guarantee they would not extradite under any circumstances.
Only that in the circumstances of an application, Assenge’s rights would be fully respected and international law complied with.
Ecuador knows this, they are getting involved for political reasons not any concern for human rights.
While the United States military takes violations of the Espionage Act serious, no one convicted of espionage has been put to death since WWII. In the past 60 years we've had some very destructive cases of espionage, yet none were put to death. So that claim to “subject to death” is bullshit.
And the federal Grand Jury convened long ago and did not produce charged. The most Assange can be charged with is possession of classified documents, not espionage......but you know that.
You also know that the UK will not enter the Embassy, but you also know that political asylum does not automatically provide diplomatic immunity, lest they make him an Ambassador and even then he needs to be approved by the UK government. The best UK can do is declare him persona non grata. When Ecuador refuses.....they are refuting international law and diplomatic conventions. Ecuador has show that they made a purely politcal no win scenario.
Aug 16th, 2012 - 11:31 pm
I am tired of Malvinista throbbers rehashing their opponents arguments and passing them off as new and original. Look in the mirror. What you see is the true pathetically brainwashed fool who's Malvinista tendencies are brought about by his country's inability to get on in the world . All because it spends every waking second blaming everybody but themselves for their own inadequacies and failures.
this was just published in La Nacion: yet another trigger happy police officer assassinating a pet who was trying to protect his owner:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9mK8Ycva1Q&feature=player_embedded
reminds me of the shooting of the brazilian boy in london tube a couple of years ago.
with fascists like these who are supposed to the example for the rest of the population i'd rather be tried in Iran than the US.
Aug 16th, 2012 - 11:50 pm
If 'we all know' that he is detained naked in some shit hole how come only god knows how he is being treated? Unless you are there and you can see it for yourself, you know nothing about it and you are not qualified to tell the rest of us what we do and do not know about anything.
my god, not only the nicknames are getting ridiculous, so are the comments.
“ On April 20, the Pentagon transferred Manning to the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, a new medium-security facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was placed in an 80-square-foot cell with a window and a normal mattress, able to mix with other pre-trial detainees, write whenever he wanted, and keep personal objects in his cell”
Just because of the maxim...innocent until proven guilty, does not mean my government must treat him to the life of a free unaccused citizen. But we digress from the article.
“Corruption, inefficiency, and political influence have plagued the Ecuadorian judiciary for many years.”:
www.hrw.org/americas/ecuador
The marriage of hypocrisy and corruption in Britain.
Self determination for the British in Malvinas they say.
Forget it about the Chagossians they do.
Blow up a civilian plane and you go home free(Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing)
Break a condom during sexual intercourse in Sweden(WikiLeaks founder) and
now Britain is ready to assault Ecuador embassy in London because of that.
The marriage of hypocrisy and corruption in Britain. - Argentina's president is the epitomy of the two, independent surveys rate Argentina has in megastars on that front.
Self determination for the British in Malvinas they say. - yes of course. Your government would remove their human rights.
Forget it about the Chagossians they do. - Not in anyway the same and if you are so upset about the Chagossian's plight, why would you do the same to the islanders? The Chagos saga continues but it is widely regarded that all inhabitants were contract workers not land owning residents.
Blow up a civilian plane and you go home free(Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing) - Free to die. This is the mark of a civilised society.
Break a condom during sexual intercourse in Sweden(WikiLeaks founder) and
now Britain is ready to assault Ecuador embassy in London because of that. - So you were there, you, Assange and the swedish ladies? Let the rule of law deal with this.
(Ugly)argie trolls are fuming....lolz.
my god, not only the nicknames are getting ridiculous, so are the comments.
If we took the idea that what Mr Assnage has done to avoid extradition as a legal right, then we accept that anyone commiting a crime would have the right to flee to a foreign embassy (prefebably one that dosent like its host nation) and claim politcal asylum and then be allowed to leave the nation without any possible chance of due process. the legal prescedence of this would have far reaching implications around the entire world. It is a condition under law of excersing the right to diplomatic imunity that those doing so agree to abide by the laws of their hsot nation. Mr Assnage has politcal asylum not diplomatic immunity and certianly not impunity from prosecution. There is no internal law that states the UK must repsect Ecudorian politcal aslyum nd allow him to leave. Even if he was granted Ecudoarian citizenship he would still not enjoy these privladges.
If he is innocent then why dosent he want to clear his name? Im not saying he is guilty, (the case seems very dubious) but the process of law is the binding principle that rule in the majority of coutnries. It is not infalable but it is all we have, we cannot just ammend laws to suit individuals to do so would challenge the very foundations of the rule of law.
The UK will not storm the embassy (they never threatended to) all they did was as they are obliged to udner law to notify the Ecudoarian emabssy that they have the right to revoke diplomatic protection. For Mr assnage the escape is anything but easy
What a load of cod's wallop this whole thing is!!! If the Yanks wanted this bloke they would have extrdited him from Britain, not from Sweden, with which country they have no extrdition treaty. So this whole rigmaroll is a put up job by this dumb twit Assange because he likes to be in the news and he doesn't have any more “secret” e-mails to publish!!
As to the Brits storming the Ecuadorian Embassy! what a load of absolute rot, time is on the Brit's and Sweden's side, its just a question of waiting!!!
Good point. i hadnt thought about what would happen in the event that the builidng had to evcuated in the case of a major incident fire/riot etc. Now that could be a very intresting political and legal prescendence. Anyone know of a time when this has happend?
The first and most basic human right is the right to life.
The so called Chagos Islanders can go back just as soon as they have a realistic plan how to survive in a place with no fresh water (rising sea levels have contaminated all the underground water sources), no pasture capable of sustaining grazing animals, no soil capable of growing crops, and that will all be underwater in 50 or so years anyway because of the continuing rise in sea levels.
The Islands are no longer capable of sustaining human habitation.
Something that has to be considered by any responsible government when making a decision.
But that is completely ignored by you.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story eh.
@42/43
Anyone got a smoke grenade, bound to be at least scuffles between Plod and protesters outside.
BTW if we want to talk about freedom of speach maybe we should be concentratin on the fact that Pussy Riot members have juts been jailed for 2 years in Russia for speaking out against Putin. I wonder why they didnt flee to a foreign embassy and claim political aslyum because this is an example of where it would apply, unlike in Assnages case.
Putin is getting more like Stalin every day.
I am waiting for the bullets in the back of the heads of his 'enemies'.
@9 I don't know what “diplomatic asylum” is. Could you clarify please?
@10 Your scenario is flawed. Ecuador could make him a citizen. But they can't give him diplomatic privilege or immunity. As was pointed out @5 that is a matter for the “receiving” state.
@12 Bradley Manning is a separate unrelated issue.
@13 Brain-dead, stupid, incomprehensible toad.
@14 “Persona non grata” was taking things too far. But Assange cannot be given diplomatic privilege by Ecuador.
@15 No British embassy would be stupid enough to harbour a criminal fugitive. There is no “political” dimension to the Assange matter. He is accused of being a sexual deviant and criminal. Sweden wants him. Sweden will have him.
@18 Just note that the “embassy” is a “flat”. Not the building.
@19 Ecuador isn't “relevant”. They don't have to be given “guarantees”. They are a little piss-arse SA country.
@25 And what sh*t-hole are you from?
@28 And this relevant...how? C'mon on. You've been in court enough times. Your “justification” that stealing the watch was a protest against the war in Afghanistan didn't work, did it?
@30 Little doggie losing it, is he? Sit, boy. Now beg.
@31 Remember how argie troops were treated by their officers in your '82 losing war?
@36 30,000 argies “disappeared”. Hypocrisy?
I trust the Brits would do it with more style such as beaming in to the embassy 24 / 7 loud re-runs of RT television & Press TV. After all there is only so many times per hour that the human body can withstand being told that the west is to blame for all the world's ills without eventually wanting to run out into the street and be physically sick!
Having resesearched it better, it seems that the allegations were brought by two of his supporters, which brings further credence to them in my opinion. Then again it could be argued by conspiracy theorists that this was a honey trap, set up by the US. In any case, apologies Mr Assange, now stop stirring things up, bugger off to Sweden and get this all sorted! the alternative is to spend a very, very long time running to nowhere.
If i was accused of rape, i'd go to court and prove my innocence.
Maybe it is some grand conspiricy. But Sweden of all nations is the most neutral country of all.
And its supporters,
We think that if this country wishes to show the free world, how great it is, it must lead by example, Ecuadorians can prove to the rest of us mortals, and set a great example,
We think this great little country, full of honest people, protecting the innocent should offer asylum to all suspected or wrongly convicted criminal all over the world,
[Yes we do], Ecuador can show us, how its done, , how many criminals claim they are innocent, and wont get a fair trial,
We think all criminals should be encouraged to enter Ecuadorian embassies all over the world, and ask for asylum.
This way the Ecuadorian government would win the respect of the free world, and criminals everywhere.
So come on fellers, encourage a potential criminal to enter Ecuadorian embassies all over the world, and demand asylum.
Still.
It was worth a few laughs was it not .lol.
.
Eh?! Looks like you just want a ruck!
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