Assange to get asylum in Ecuador

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blog Australian citizen and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will shortly be granted asylum in Ecuador, according to the UK’s Guardian newspaper. The Guardian reports (we recommend you click here for access to the full article):

“Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, has agreed to grant Julian Assange asylum, officials within Ecuador’s government have said. The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up at Ecuador’s London embassy since 19 June, when he officially requested political asylum.”

If Assange does head to South America, it will be interesting to see whether he makes it back to Australia somehow for his eventual mooted attempt to join Australia’s Senate. One suspects that political move has been sidelined for now as Assange attempts to extricate himself from Sweden’s legal system.

Image credit: Surian Soosay, Creative Commons

34 COMMENTS

  1. Story written by an independent journalist, denied by Ecuadorian Officials and spammed across the internet so much that it’s turning into fact by dint of volume.

    I actually doubt that he’ll be given asylum.

    Also even if he was, he’ll never get to leave the ambassadorial confines..

    • It’s the exact same tactic used by Assange’s detractors… turning something (the alleged “rape”) into fact by dint of volume.

      • Thank you. My point exactly.

        Though I don’t think this is a “tactic” as such (well not in this case anyway), just an example of how flawed the mainstream media news reporting is.
        Own enough news venues you can report anything you like and do it loudly and as often as you can… eventually it becomes perceived reality.

        It’s how Fox News works.

  2. Wow, this is huge. I actually didn’t expect for his asylum to be granted. I’m not his biggest fan, but from what I can tell the charges against him in Sweden sound bogus to say the least (“consensual rape” is a great oxymoron of a law) so I’m glad he’s escaped their legal system for now.

    It will be interesting to hear what our esteemed leaders of the world have to say about it. Oh and how does he get to Ecuador without being arrested as soon as he walks out of the gate of their embassy?

    • When I heard the news this morning I was amazed too. it’s quite clear that the Swedish legal system is being abused, however the ramifications of a request for political asylum being granted for Assange never really hit me until I read the story. An independent country decides that an Australian citizen is being politically persecuted and our government is doing nothing to stop it. The questions it would undoubtedly raise over the role and motives of the Australian, Swedish, UK, and US governments in all this are too juicy to imagine.

    • He will be in a Ecuadorian plated Vehicle which I believe will enjoy diplomatic immunity.

      In my understanding anyway.

  3. Erm, hasn’t already been denied by the Ecuadorian president, and Julian Assange’s PR people? I’m sure I read that somewhere this morning.

  4. lIt may take a bit more but better safe than sorry for when US sends assassination drones after Juliane.

    • Given how they have been treating Bradley Manning a drone strike wouldn’t surprise me.

      It’s bloody disgraceful how the US is behaving.

    • I’m sorry, but there is absolutely no chance of a US drone strike against Assange. He’s living in the heart of London. Even in Ecuador this wouldn’t happen — and certainly not in Sweden. Delimiter is not a forum for conspiracy theories — if you have them, I encourage you to keep them to yourself.

      • “I’m sorry, but there is absolutely no chance of a US drone strike against Assange. He’s living in the heart of London. ”

        Cause London is like super secure. No nuclear assassination’s or train bombings for at least a couple years!

        That said, I doubt the American’s will try anything funny – why bother? Sure he’s annoying, but assassinating him isn’t going to do them any favors.

        • Hear the news this morning? The UK gov has written to the ecudorian Embassy stating that if they give assange asylum they will storm the embassy to forcefully take him.

          That is some serious shit.

          It’s also a UK first. If any ecudorians were harmed in an outright unlawful attack like that you can bet there would be he’ll to pay.

          • That isserious.

            As for the drone attack theory, thats just crazy. I thought that original comment must be sarcastic as there’s a thousand reasons that could/would never happen.

            I can just see Obama with his finger over a big red button ready to bomb him and the fantasy headlines now:

            “US Declares war on the UK and Australia… by murdering controversial Australian citizen and Wiki-leaks founder Julian Assange, via illegal drone attack on allied ground”.. NOT.

          • Mounties invade northern US states while Alaska gets annexed as the commonwealth goes to war.

    • I suspect no decision will be reached until after the US presidential election. It’s too useful to both sides of politics there so Ecuador will want to keep it as low profile as possible.

  5. I’m surprised nobody gets it yet. Julian is so obsessed with international conspiracies the he can’t see it either. He’s given the girls an STD which is an offence in Sweden but they are not going to say that because it would embarrass the ladies. All the timing and meetings fit.
    There is no extradition secret agreement with the USA because Julian is just not that important. The US has a scapegoat and the don’t want to be seen persecuting another member of the media, which by the way started this thing in the first place.

    • If that were true then why decline a Video Interview?
      Why decline to guarantee no extradition?

      There are too much irregular behaviour by the Swedish authorities for this to be about the two girls.

      • There is a certain amount of deception required in investigation so you can get the truth out of someone. Eg a witness saw you at A. The suspect says no I wasn’t at A I was at B. Now we know where the suspect really was.
        But I think we are past the video interview stage. The next step would probably be taking custody and asking if he admits guilt.
        Of course this is a delicate situation the ladies involved so the don’t want an international incident (more so than already) so that is one reason for the denial of extradition agreement. Maybe they have some sort of legal blocker regarding extradition and sex crimes, I know aussies can be prosecuted in australia for sex crimes committed in other countries.

        • Not sure how you can justify the claim its “beyond Video interview”.. the man hasn’t even been charged yet.

          You cant admit Guilt to something you haven’t been charged with yet.

          He offered to come back on his own, they declined.

          The whole thing is exceedingly suss.

          • Yes I agree it is very suss. But it makes sense if you think about protecting your citizens sexual privacy.
            The problem is that everyone is thinking about zebras, so when they hear hooves the assume zebras are coming. But it is far more likely to just be mundane old horse’s.
            Am I being too cryptic?

          • Cryptic? No, just obtuse.

            It is a fact that if there is a sealed order for the arrest and extradition of Assange it is legally treasonous for anyone privy to this information to discuss it until it has been officially released. That means the US ambassador can’t admit it, the only option of anyone in the US administration is to either deny it (if they know about it) or deny it (because no one has told them about it). So you and I and everyone else will have zero chance of knowing about it until Assange has been taken into custody by US agents.

            It is also a fact that Swedish police didn’t follow legal procedure in processing these charges. If the charges were genuine, why would they have so much difficulty following standard procedure? If correct legal procedure wasn’t followed, what legal standing do the charges actually have? (The answer should be none, as has been discussed by not only Swedish legal experts, but government officials. How can they be attempting to charge him with crimes when in executing enforcement of the alleged crimes they have broken the law themselves??)

            And then, of course, there’s the closed ‘private’ hearings that will not be open to any sort of public or external scrutiny. The fact that an Australian official can’t even be present for the proceedings is telling…

  6. ABC Four Corners was interesting.

    Fact is, there is very little chance of Assange getting to Equador, unless Equador and the UK come to a deal, which seems unlikely after events over night.
    To put it simply, you can’t get from the consulate, to a car, and from the car onto an airplane without stepping on UK soil.
    So whatever Equador officially does, it’ll most likely be symbolic.
    I’m not a fan of Assange but I wish there was a way they could sort out the Swedish mess without him leaving the UK, or falling foul of an attempted grab by US secret service.

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