MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Foreign Office rejects Ecuadorean diplomatic status for Wikileaks Julian Assange
A proposed diplomatic status would give Assange diplomatic immunity, which would make it possible for him to leave the embassy and UK without fear of arrest. 
The development follows reports by the Ecuadorian press that Assange, Australian by birth, recently became an Ecuadorian citizen and was granted a passport. The British Foreign Office rejected an Ecuadorian government request to grant the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange diplomatic status in a bid to bring to an end his forced stay in the South American country’s London embassy.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesperson was quoted Wednesday night by British media, including the Guardian that the “government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for Assange here in the UK,” but “the UK did not grant that request, nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter.”
A proposed diplomatic status – if it had been granted – would give the WikiLeaks’ founder diplomatic immunity, which would make it possible for him to leave the embassy and the UK without fear of arrest.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy located in Knightsbridge, central London for nearly six years after claiming diplomatic asylum in June 2012 after being wanted by Swedish prosecutors for questioning over various alleged sexual offences. He was supposed to be extradited to Stockholm by British authorities before entering the embassy.
He refused to go back to Sweden, referring to the risk of extradition to the US, where he insisted the American authorities would charge him with espionage for releasing troves of once-secret files to the public.
The development came following reports by the Ecuadorian press that Assange, who is Australian by birth, recently became an Ecuadorian citizen and was granted a passport.
Swedish prosecutors last year dropped their investigation into allegations against Assange but he still faces arrest by British authorities for breaching his former bail conditions if he leaves the embassy.
Ecuador’s foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa, earlier this week, said her country was seeking a “third country or a personality” to mediate a final settlement with the UK to resolve the impasse.
“Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice,” the FCO spokesperson said.
In 2016, a UN panel concluded that Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained in violation of international law.
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Read all commentsYou do not have a valid opinion on Scottish Independence any more than I have a valid opinion on who should be in power in Argentina.
Jan 19th, 2018 - 10:37 pm +6I regard YOU as a foreigner and I regard the English..(not your stupid pretentious engrish,)
Welsh, Irish as fellow citizens. If they live and work here then they have the same vote as me as do other nationalities. We have a joint culture with regional variations. There are now so many 2nd generation Scots in England that we are heading eventually towards a homogeneous grouping.
As a champion of the “Highlands” you do realise that Highland region, Moray Perth and Kinross all voted AGAINST independence and still you pretend that their wish was otherwise. The ones who did vote yes were mainly located in the LOWLANDS.
How do you reconcile that with your pseudo Scottish pronouncements
You really haven't a clue as to what it is about. I keep out of other countries politics UNLESS it affects MY country. The only ”quarrel I have with Argentina is their attitude to the Falklands and dependent areas. Apart from that, they can get on with whatever they do.
Have you studied land ownership in Scotland....very little is owned by the Scots
theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/10/scotland-land-rights
You refer to yourself as a Scandinavian. You are not. You are an Argentinian having been borne there. Be happy with your own nationality and stop claiming some right to others for which you have no claim.
don't bore an auld, humble Patagonian to death...
Jan 12th, 2018 - 09:58 pm +4If I thought it would work, I would try it !
Think or not to think...that is the question. Answer below.
Jan 19th, 2018 - 04:39 pm +4What a load of unmitigated drivel....really, what's wrong with your brain.
Narcissism is obvious to all but there must be other quirks.
Lack of self worth being Argentinian ? So much so that you have to insert yourself into an alien culture of your own invention which has no basis in reality.
I see why so many “shrinks|” are needed in Argentina. I can only assume that your delusions are received by a form of Osmosis or a predilection to over proof malt whisky.
As you seem to think you are an expert on the peoples of the Highlands, why don't you write in Gaelic instead of using lowland Scots
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