Ecuador may lift asylum for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, who will then be arrested according to UK officials
Ecuador is to rescind Julian Assange’s political asylum, reports Reuters, who spoke to a source close to Wikileaks, as the news will likely result in Assange’s arrest by by British authorities for jumping bail.
The controversial figures has been residing in Ecuador’s London embassy since June 2012 to avoid arrest for a sex crime, the charges of which have been dropped.
Photo/Espen Moe via wikimedia commons
Reuters noted that “Those allegations have since been dropped but Assange would be arrested by British police should he leave the embassy for breaching bail conditions. He believes that would pave the way for extradition to the United States for the publication of a huge cache of U.S. diplomatic and military secrets on the WikiLeaks website.”
“The situation is very serious. Things are coming to a head,” the source, who spoke on condition on anonymity, told Reuters. He said the latest information from inside the embassy was, “It’s not looking good.”
Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno, who has described Assange’s situation as “unsustainable” and “a stone in his shoe,” attending a global disabilities summit in London, so some outlets are suggesting that Moreno could finalize an agreement.
That said, the Ecuadorean government has said neither Moreno nor his delegation would address the Assange issue on his visit.
“The Ecuadorian state will only talk and promote understandings about Mr Assange’s asylum, within the framework of international law, with the interested party’s lawyers and with the British government,” Ecuador’s foreign ministry said in a statement ahead of the visit.
“At the moment, due to the complexity of the topic, a short- or long-term solution is not in sight.”
Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, announcing more documents will be released in 2013 photo screenshot of video
“It is our wish that this is brought to an end, and we would like to make the assurance that if he were to step out of the embassy, he would be treated humanely and properly,” British Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan said. “The first priority would be to look after his health, which we think is deteriorating.”
Different groups are rallying to support Assange.
“We have been very concerned about reports that Julian Assange’s eviction from the Ecuadorian embassy is imminent. We are very concerned that the current Ecuadorian government is in negotiations with the UK and the US for removing the protection of political asylum that has been given to Julian Assange over the last years and handing him over to the British authorities,” a man named Emmy told the World Socialist Web Site, during a group rally to free Assange.
“We are aware that there is a Grand Jury investigation in the US and it has been building up a national security case and preparing espionage charges against him. A sealed indictment already exists and is in the hands of the British police.”
Emmy continued: “We are here to say ‘No.’ Julian must be protected and he must be set free. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made a ruling that he is being arbitrarily detained and should be freed and compensated. This is right and should be respected.
“However, the prognosis is not positive. [UK Foreign Secretary] Jeremy Hunt has been reported as saying there are ‘serious charges’ against Assange even though there are no serious charges against him. Then there are the reports that the UK government has authorised the use of lethal force in the streets of London to apprehend him.
“What is going on is very high level behind the scenes that we don’t often have an insight into.”
Assange has been a high profile figure in the war over privacy, leaking sensitive documents during the Bush administration (the plot of The Fifth Estate) and more recently, the outlet which leaked documents from the Russian hackers into the DNC and Democratic caucus servers.
