[governance] Julian Assange extradition: Ecuador 'willing to co-operate' with Britain

[Riaz K Tayob]

[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...

Parminder, ain't it funny how a "Banana Republic" shows up the home of 
Parliamentary democracy... ]


  Julian Assange extradition: Ecuador 'willing to co-operate' with Britain

Pledge on protecting WikiLeaks founder from US could lead to deal, says 
source as embassy complains of 'intimidating' police

  *
    Sam Jones <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/samjones> and Rajeev
    Syal <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rajeev-syal>
  * guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk>, Friday 17 August 2012
    19.28 BST

Julian Assange extradition
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

*Ecuador <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ecuador> is still willing to 
negotiate with the British government over the fate of Julian Assange 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/julian-assange>, despite the Foreign 
Office's "threat" to arrest the WikiLeaks 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/wikileaks> founder inside its embassy 
and the "intimidating" police presence in and around the building, 
according to a senior Ecuadorean diplomatic source.*

The South American country's decision to grant political asylum to the 
41-year-old Australian, who faces allegations of sexual assault in 
Sweden <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/sweden>, has provoked a bitter 
political row between Quito and London.

The source complained that the UK government's written warning that it 
could use the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 
<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/46/section/1> to arrest 
Assange inside the embassy had been accompanied by a large increase in 
the number of police officers at the Knightsbridge building.

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".

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.

"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."

It stressed that Ecuador was willing to co-operate with the British and 
Swedish authorities over the matter of Assange's extradition 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/extradition> 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."

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."

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."

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.

"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."

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."

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.

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."

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."

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."

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.

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".

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