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<div id="main-article-info"> [For Exceptionalists, not even the
well established Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Immunities is
safe! Perhaps a sniper should just "take him out" because a
Presidential approved 'kill list" along with enhanced
interrogation techniques is legal right? So, on this list, while
we do need to engage, please take note that there are different
perspectives out there... which is NOT much to ask in civil
society... <br>
<br>
Parminder, ain't it funny how a "Banana Republic" shows up the
home of Parliamentary democracy... ]<br>
<h1 itemprop="name">Julian Assange extradition: Ecuador 'willing
to co-operate' with Britain</h1>
<p itemprop="description" id="stand-first"
class="stand-first-alone" data-component="comp : r2 : Article
: standfirst_cta">Pledge on protecting WikiLeaks founder from
US could lead to deal, says source as embassy complains of
'intimidating' police</p>
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<ul class="article-attributes trackable-component b4"
data-component="comp: r2: Byline">
<li class="byline">
<div class="contributor-full"> <a class="contributor"
rel="author"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/samjones"> Sam
Jones</a> and <a class="contributor" rel="author"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rajeev-syal">
Rajeev Syal</a> </div>
</li>
<li class="publication"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a>,
<time datetime="2012-08-17T19:28BST" pubdate="">Friday 17
August 2012 19.28 BST</time> </li>
</ul>
<div id="article-wrapper">
<div id="main-content-picture"> <img
src="cid:part4.02020302.06040004@gmail.com" alt="Julian
Assange extradition" height="276" width="460">
<div class="caption">A Julian Assange supporter stakes her
spot opposite the Ecuadorian embassy where he claimed asylum
to avoid extradiction to Sweden to face rape allegations.
Photograph: John Stillwell/PA</div>
</div>
<div id="article-body-blocks">
<p><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ecuador"
title="More from guardian.co.uk on Ecuador">Ecuador</a>
is still willing to negotiate with the British government
over the fate of <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/julian-assange"
title="More from guardian.co.uk on Julian Assange">Julian
Assange</a>, despite the Foreign Office's "threat" to
arrest the <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/wikileaks"
title="More from guardian.co.uk on WikiLeaks">WikiLeaks</a>
founder inside its embassy and the "intimidating" police
presence in and around the building, according to a senior
Ecuadorean diplomatic source.</b></p>
<p>The South American country's decision to grant political
asylum to the 41-year-old Australian, who faces allegations
of sexual assault in <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/sweden" title="More
from guardian.co.uk on Sweden">Sweden</a>, has provoked a
bitter political row between Quito and London.</p>
<p>The source complained that the UK government's written
warning that it could use the <a
href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/46/section/1"
title="Section 1 wording">Diplomatic and Consular Premises
Act 1987</a> to arrest Assange inside the embassy had been
accompanied by a large increase in the number of police
officers at the Knightsbridge building.</p>
<p>The police presence, it added, had risen from two or three
to around 50, with officers on the embassy's fire escape and
at every window. This was described as "an absolutely
intimidating and unprecedented use of police" designed to
show the British government's desire to "go in with a strong
hand".</p>
<p>However, the source said that Quito had been encouraged by
a phone call made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to
the Ecuadorean ambassador on Thursday. "The FCO called the
ambassador yesterday to confirm that it still had the will
to talk and negotiate, so we'll keep talking," it added.</p>
<p>"The fact that they called the ambassador makes us think
that the letter with the threat of using domestic
legislation to make an incursion into the embassy and arrest
somebody inside was a mistake – as was the intimidating
increase in the number of police surrounding the embassy on
the same day the letter was delivered."</p>
<p>It stressed that Ecuador was willing to co-operate with the
British and Swedish authorities over the matter of Assange's
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/extradition"
title="More from guardian.co.uk on Extradition">extradition</a>
to Sweden. "In the negotiations with the FCO, Ecuador has
been proposing that we would be prepared to accept an
undertaking from the UK and Sweden that, once Julian Assange
has faced the Swedish investigation, he will not be
extradited to a third country: specifically the US. That
might be a way out of it and Ecuador has always said it does
not want to interfere with the Swedish judicial process; we
could facilitate it."</p>
<p>The source said the Ecuadorean government had been
bolstered by the support it had received since deciding to
grant asylum to Assange, adding: "We are moved by the
overwhelming level of solidarity that Ecuador now has in the
[Latin American] region."</p>
<p>Asked how Assange was coping with the pressure of life in
the small embassy, where he has been living for 55 days, the
source said: "He's fine. He's not stressed out. Given the
fact that he has been under pressure for so long and that
his legal fight has gone through so many different levels, I
think that for his safety he always had a last resort."</p>
<p>Scotland Yard declined to comment on the policing operation
at the embassy, while an FCO source said the letter sent to
the Ecuadorean authorities on Wednesday was not menacing and
that the rights of the country's officials would continue to
be respected by the government.</p>
<p>"The letter was not a threat," said the source. "There had
already been many meetings with the Ecuador government. It
was just that it was quite clear that they were close to
making a decision and we wanted them to know the law. It was
merely signposting the fact."</p>
<p>The foreign secretary, William Hague, was informed about
diplomatic developments on the Assange case, although a
spokeswoman declined to divulge further details, saying: "We
are not providing a running commentary."</p>
<p>At a press conference on Wednesday, Ecuador's foreign
minister, Ricardo Patiño, released details of the
contentious letter, which he said was delivered through a
British embassy official in Quito.</p>
<p>The letter said: "You need to be aware that there is a
legal base in the UK, the Diplomatic and Consular Premises
Act 1987, that would allow us to take actions in order to
arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the embassy."
It added: "We need to reiterate that we consider the
continued use of the diplomatic premises in this way
incompatible with the Vienna convention and unsustainable
and we have made clear the serious implications that this
has for our diplomatic relations."</p>
<p>Patiño said that Ecuador rejected the "explicit threat"
made in the letter, adding: "This is unbecoming of a
democratic, civilised and law-abiding state. If this conduct
persists, Ecuador will take appropriate responses in
accordance with international law. If the measures announced
in the British official communication materialise they will
be interpreted by Ecuador as a hostile and intolerable act
and also as an attack on our sovereignty, which would
require us to respond with greater diplomatic force."</p>
<p>Hague has denied suggestions that the FCO was threatening
"to storm an embassy", saying: "We are talking about an act
of parliament in this country which stresses that it must be
used in full conformity with international law."</p>
<p>He has also said that Assange will not be allowed safe
passage out of the UK despite the asylum decision, and that
diplomatic immunity should not be used to harbour alleged
criminals.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether Assange will address his supporters
at the embassy on Sunday, as has been reported. He has
described the granting of political asylum by Ecuador as a
"significant and historic victory".</p>
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