Ecuador says Wikileaks founder seeking asylum

[Gio7707]

Ecuador says Wikileaks founder seeking asylum | Fox News

QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador's foreign minister says Wilikeaks chief Julian Assange has taken refuge in the South American nation's embassy in London and is seeking political asylum.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino says Ecuador is weighing the request.

The move comes less than a week after Britain's Supreme Court rejected Assange's bid to reopen his extradition case.

Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden after two women accused him of sexual misconduct during a visit to the country in mid-2010.

His legal struggle to stay in Britain has dragged on for the better part of two years, clouding his website's work exposing the world's secrets.


Read more: Ecuador says Wikileaks founder seeking asylum | Fox News

[Gio7707]

this is interesting, Julian is really really afraid about getting xtradited to the US..

technically if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy he can and will be arrested...

For WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange, It's Ecuador or Bust | Fox News Latino

Vaughan Smith, the former journalist who let Assange stay at his rural English home for more than a year as part of his bail terms, said the news "came as surprise to me."

Smith said he stood to lose his 20,000 pound surety, but defended Assange nonetheless.

"This is money my family needs," Smith said. "But my family don't believe they are facing life imprisonment or death.

"I am convinced (Assange) genuinely believes he will be sent to America and will face something terrible there."

Some legal experts said they were mystified by the reasoning behind Assange's dramatic asylum bid. But human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy, a former member of Assange's legal team, said he could be planning to bargain with Sweden for assurances that he would not be handed over to the U.S.

She said if granted such assurances, Assange might be willing to go to Sweden voluntarily.
Read more: For WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange, It's Ecuador or Bust | Fox News Latino

CHAVEZ HERE I COME ...

[Gio7707]

OpEdNews - Article: Assange's Last Stand?

Ecuador is already being threatened with all sorts of retaliation by US government insiders and their patsies, and the pressure is on: if Correa grants Assange asylum, expect the Ecuadorian President to be routinely likened to Hugo Chavez, who no doubt has more than one US covert operation aimed at destabilizing his rule, although cancer may get him before Washington does. With Chavez about to go, the War Party will need a quick LAV (Latin American Villain) replacement, and Correa -- who was interviewed by Assange in his last broadcast for "Russia Today" -- fits the bill.

Granting the asylum request would be a purely symbolic gesture, and a futile one, as President Correa doubtless knows. Ecuador's London embassy is surely the last stop in Assange's nomadic wanderings: I for one predict he'll never get off British soil. The moment he leaves the embassy and tries to board a plane he'll be apprehended and hauled off to Sweden, and -- after the "legal" preliminaries -- promptly remanded to US custody. The US and its allies care nothing for diplomatic amenities, legal norms, or international law: they'll brush the Ecuadorians aside so rudely and brazenly it'll make Rafael Correa's head spin.

[carloss]

Not for nothin', but...anyone want to guess who the two Latin American members of OPEC happen to be?

[Jayfar]

Ecuador Grants Asylum to Assange, Defying Britain - NYT

[Preesi]

#freeassange

[seand]

OpEdNews - Article: Assange's Last Stand?

Ecuador is already being threatened with all sorts of retaliation by US government insiders and their patsies, and the pressure is on: if Correa grants Assange asylum, expect the Ecuadorian President to be routinely likened to Hugo Chavez, who no doubt has more than one US covert operation aimed at destabilizing his rule, although cancer may get him before Washington does. With Chavez about to go, the War Party will need a quick LAV (Latin American Villain) replacement, and Correa -- who was interviewed by Assange in his last broadcast for "Russia Today" -- fits the bill.

Granting the asylum request would be a purely symbolic gesture, and a futile one, as President Correa doubtless knows. Ecuador's London embassy is surely the last stop in Assange's nomadic wanderings: I for one predict he'll never get off British soil. The moment he leaves the embassy and tries to board a plane he'll be apprehended and hauled off to Sweden, and -- after the "legal" preliminaries -- promptly remanded to US custody. The US and its allies care nothing for diplomatic amenities, legal norms, or international law: they'll brush the Ecuadorians aside so rudely and brazenly it'll make Rafael Correa's head spin.

It would violate the Vienna convention and expose British ambassadors to all kinds of risk around the world. I think he sits it out in the embassy for about 6 months at which point the British authorities will pretend to not notice him being smuggled out of the country to Ecuador, just to have the whole business out of their lap. Let the US and Sweden sort it Ecuador, we're done.

Though on the BBC they mentioned one Hungarian asylum seeker stuck in an embassy behind the iron curtain for like 15 years during the 1970's.

Its important to remember that while Sweden as requested extradiction to interview Asange, they haven't had enough evidence to actually formally accuse him of anything. And they have refused to come to England or Ecuador to interview him, though they have done exactly that for previous criminal investigations in other countries. And they refuse to promise not to extradite him to the US.

The UK will talk tough and gesture for a while but eventually let him go to Ecuador, because its really Sweden's not the UK's problem, unless the US directly requests extradiction itself, which would require a higher burden of proof than the US is willing to meet.