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back to article Assange granted asylum by Ecuador after US refused to rule out charges

Wikileaker Julian Assange has been granted political asylum by Ecuador. The Australian geeklord, who is sheltering in the South American country’s London embassy, was granted asylum out of concern he’d face persecution in the West, Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino said this afternoon. Assange™ faces extradition to …

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      1. Tilman Ahr
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        Re: What does this guy expect to get away with?

        That may all very well be.

        But how the bloody fuck does it relate to his being wanted for answering to allegations of sexual offences of some kind or another in Sweden?

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What does this guy expect to get away with?

      "Since when was Assange immune? Anyway, he swans around the world while the man who made it all possible for him "enjoys" US Military prison hospitality. In my personal rule book, I'd imprison him just for that."

      I'm gonna downvote you like those other guys because I think he deserves to be an exception to the laws of three nations and be allowed to swan around the globe freely, sipping cocktails while Manning rots forgotten in jail.

      And because I disagree that nations should have any secrets and not expect anything and everything to be leaked to the entire world, and should be perfectly OK with that.

      Just like those other people did. That's what we're downvoting for, right?

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brave Equador

    Now only if William Hague stops bending over and opening his cheeks to his US masters, without being asked !

    Doesnt he have anything better to do ? Like stop the rapists in Syria and Egypt and elsewhere.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Raped" chicks

    Now where are they and their photos either? Surely they ought to have kicked up a huge storm by now? Giving interviews, writing books and raking it in? Confronting Assange in London and getting all the media attention!

    It now appears more plausible that all this was a honeytrap set up by the Yanks to get him.

    And Sweden is not known to be super prudish when it comes to casual sex!

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    1. Ossi
      Reply Icon

      Re: "Raped" chicks

      There's only one problem with this honey-trap conspiracy theory - there's was never any need for anyone to do it. If you the US wanted him, they could have just had him extradited anyway. Why would they have to go the indirect route through Sweden especially, as some people have noted, considering the highly advantageous extradition treaty they have with the UK? Still, we never let logic get in the way of a good conspiracy theory, do we?

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      1. Charles 9
        Reply Icon

        Re: "Raped" chicks

        Assange turned UK sentiment against any form of extradition because he played the capital punishment card (because his releases under US law could constitute espionage, which DOES have a potential death penalty as that was the charge that did in the Rosenbergs). He's claiming the US has either a blackmail or a secret deal with Sweden (Swedish legal system is less transparent) that would basically force him to be sent to the us, EU laws be damned, if he even ended up there.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Raped" chicks

        It's Rule 5 of disinformation.... baby, just read the rule book:

        http://www.whale.to/m/disin.html

        Discrediting a journalist is SO MUCH better than extraditing him and putting him into jail...... know what I mean?

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    2. Local Group
      Reply Icon
      Trollface

      Re: In the good old days...

      they called it 'free love.' (sigh)

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    3. Chad H.
      Reply Icon

      Re: "Raped" chicks

      The UK courts Have already determined that had the acts been performed in the UK a Rape charge would have been appropriate, super prudish swedes or no.

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    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Raped" chicks

      "Giving interviews, writing books and raking it in? Confronting Assange in London and getting all the media attention!"

      Are you for real?

      Does it not occur to you that someone who feels they were sexually violated might not want to hold a press conference and go into detail about it in front of cameras?

      "And Sweden is not known to be super prudish when it comes to casual sex!"

      Oh, and a bit of racism thrown in there for good measure. Nice.

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    5. Tilman Ahr
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: "Raped" chicks

      And, on the other hand, they might just be normal people with actual lives, families and friends, to whom having their private lives dragged all through the international press isn't a dream come true but something from a veritable nightmare...

      But I might very well be overrating some commenters' connection with reality here...

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tough laws in Sweden

    What JA is accused of...

    'Unlawful coercion' against Miss A - pinning her down

    'Sexual molestation' by refusing to wear a condom with Miss A

    'Deliberate molestation' of Miss A

    'Rape' of Miss W: had sex with her while she was sleeping and without a condom

    So was it consensual sex that become "rape" cos he refused to wear a condom? And unlawful coercion can involve emotional pressure as well, though in this case, he's been accused of pinning her down and not applying just emotional pressure.

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    1. David Webb
      Reply Icon

      Re: Tough laws in Sweden

      Can you give consent when you are asleep?

      This website gives an answer...

      I was unconscious or asleep when the rape occurred.

      If you are asleep or unconscious, then you cannot give your consent to sexual intercourse. Without your consent to intercourse, a crime occurred and it's called rape.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "If you are asleep or unconscious,"

        In law school there was something called 'implied consent.'

        If a guy was dragged by the short hairs to some woman's flat, who fell asleep or went unconscious on him from all the drinks and drugs she had consumed, it was implied that she consented to be shagged for as long as guy could get it up. She usually wanted to go to dinner with him the next night.

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    2. tom dial Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      Re: Tough laws in Sweden

      Two cases, that is, of having sex with a woman without her permission. That fits the usual definition of rape fairly well in both cases and especially well in the second, which fails to remotely approach consensual sex. Away with him.

      If the Swedish legal system finds otherwise and releases him, Ecuador probably has an embassy there if the U. S. wants to extradite. I rather doubt that the US has much interest in Julian Assange, as most of any damage already is done - there is no such thing as an unleak - and most of what I saw in the New York Times amounted to diplomatic gossip about people who mostly knew what the U. S. thought of them but might have preferred that it not be published. There's been a great deal of noise about the U. S. being upset, but there likely are many others, some with fewer scruples.

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      1. tom dial Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Tough laws in Sweden

        Correction: Most of what I saw in the NYT >already was known< or amounted to diplomatic gossip about people who mostly knew what the U. S. thought of them but might have preferred that it not be published.

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      2. Spanners Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Holmes

        Re: Tough laws in Sweden

        <quote>most of any damage already is done - there is no such thing as an unleak</quote>

        True but they may want revenge and also to discourage others from letting more of their dirty washing out in the future.

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        1. tom dial Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Tough laws in Sweden

          Not at all a bad observation, although I think it might be difficult to prosecute Mr. Assange, an Australian citizen, for publishing materials he "found" in Iceland or Sweden (or someplace else not the U. S). On the other hand, taking him down would not likely discourage Wikileaks from publishing additional information they might "find" in the future - Wikileaks, whether you like it or not, is more than, and probably not dependent on, Julian Assange. He may now, in fact, be a liability for Wikileaks. And these materials would not have been "found" but for unauthorized actions of somebody like PFC Bradley Manning who, if convicted of the charges he faces, will provide a far better example to discourage others.

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    3. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: Tough laws in Sweden

      "..And unlawful coercion can involve emotional pressure as well, though in this case, he's been accused of pinning her down and not applying just emotional pressure..."

      That sounds like charging him with using the missionary position.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The law is an Ass...

    Abu Hamza wants to stay in Britain and we cant throw him out, Assange wants to go away and we wont let him!

    WTF is going on here?

    And why cant AC choose their Icons?

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Crime must be non-existent in the UK

    If the police and Governemnt are putting so much effort into this pillock, you might get the idea I'm not his greatest fan, then that's the only conclusion I can come to. That, and that all the known illegal immigrants and foreign terrorists and murderers have been shipped out of the country making England a veritable utopia free of rape, muggings and other such unpleasantries.

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  8. Brent Longborough
    FAIL

    Independently of the merits of the case...

    ... this is such a stupid own goal by the government.

    There was obviously an internal conflict in the Ecuadorian government as to whether or not to grant asylum. UK threatening so send in the Plods was all that was needed for Ecuador to come together and decide.

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    1. Mike Banahan
      Reply Icon
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Independently of the merits of the case...

      "Such a stupid own goal by the [British] government"

      Possibly, or a devious ploy intended precisely to persuade them to give him asylum as they appeared to be wavering.

      I'm not usually a one for conspiracy theories so on the balance I still subscribe to this being a complete cock-up, but it's of such monstrous proportions that it's stretching credulity.

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      1. KH99
        Reply Icon

        Re: Independently of the merits of the case...

        Well, it's forced the ecudorians to commit to a course of activity and as they now can't throw him out without loss of face, they are responsible to feed/water him for the forseeable future.

        A Google search shows htere is an extradition treaty between ecudor and USA - so might not be totally safe even if when attention is directed elsewhere (such as the para-olympics) he manages to somehow "escape" from the UK, I've seen news items suggesting there are negotiations with the EU on trade treaties - being in dispute might influence this. Likewise there are supposed to be negotiations on favoured nation status between ecudor and USA due Jan 2013 - this might be a good reason for them to fail, or prhaps provide a sacrifice? assuming the US are really intersted in hiom in the first place

        Likewise if nothing is done and he has got to ecudor then he is in an intersting prision as he can;t risk taking any transport that might end up in the USA - or perhaps there might be an unfortunate incident with a robbery going wrong ?

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  9. nuked
    WTF?

    Rape, no rape, extradition from here to here. Who knows. What I do know is that this is about much more than we are all probably aware or will likely ever find out. People get arrested and charged on simply an allegation these days, and we're looking to storm an embassy so JA can go an answer a few simple questions. Pick up the phone perhaps? I mean really.

    I also don't believe that the UK foreign office would expose itself to such obvious bad-form just to keep our 'special friends' happy. Whatever the cause of this, the UK must have a pretty major security interest in arresting this man - can anyone remember in our recent history a story even remotely obsure and unsettling as this? No; this is something quite different...

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  10. gujiguju

    The Muppet behind the sheep behind the wolf, behind the curtain

    The ignorance and hypocrisy (and chest-thumping) is truly astonishing to read in the comments, even at El Reg (which is British-based, but still)...

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/20/julian-assange-right-asylum

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  11. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    IT Angle

    The worst case

    outcome for Julian is not being kidnapped from the embassy , and bundled onto a Sweden bound aircraft thats diverted to the USA

    The worst case outcome for him is being extradited to Sweden, being interviewed there, and the the police going "Its ok sir, no charges to answer , now get lost"... followed by the US saying "we're not interested in the stupid little prick either"

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  12. Derpity
    Black Helicopters

    Interesting

    I doubt the Brits were serious when they said they would enter the embassy. Probably hyperbole. There is also no gurantee that Sweden would extradite. Why wouldn't Assange want to face the charges against him in Sweden? It would be a large event covered by the press where he could prove his innocence on the global stage, obviously this assumes hes innocent. Perhaps he promised to provide all data he had to Ecuador and not release any of their sensitive data in exchange for asylum? I dont think anyone involved is completely innocent here.

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    1. Mephistro
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: Interesting

      "There is also no gurantee that Sweden would extradite"

      What Assange needs is a guarantee that Sweden would NOT extradite. That guarantee was what Assange and the Salvadoran Embassy tried to negotiate. They didn't get such guarantee.

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      1. Chris Miller
        Reply Icon

        Re: Interesting

        No state could give such a guarantee. If a third party country with whom relevant treaties exist can produce sufficient evidence to warrant extradition (and guarantee there is no possibility of the death penalty being applied), countries are not free to say 'well, we promised we wouldn't - so you can't have him'. There isn't (despite all the paranoid conspiracy theories being promoted by Assange's media poodles) any evidence that such an application is plausible. Or that, if it were, it would be more likely to succeed in Sweden than in the UK.

        Whatever reasons are behind Assange's reluctance to go to Sweden, they can have nothing to do with a reasonable fear of extradition to the US.

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      2. Chad H.
        Reply Icon

        Re: Interesting

        Well given he wanted to move to sweden to take advantage of laws that prevented extradition for poltiical cases... I dont think he needs one.

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    2. Psyx
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      Re: Interesting

      "I doubt the Brits were serious when they said they would enter the embassy."

      That's because *it was never said*

      The leaked letter pretty much said "By the way, we hope it doesn't come to this, and we'd like a nice outcome, but just in case you forgot, we have a law that says we can close your embassy. And then it won't be an embassy any more. And then we can wander in, if we wanted to... but we hope we won't."

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  13. Mephistro
    Mushroom

    Warning: RANT

    What riles me is the fact that everybody and their brother is discussing Assange and his circumstances, and three different countries are out to get his ass, while of the many serious crimes described in the (in)famous 'Cablegate' files no one -AFAIK- has been prosecuted or even investigated yet, and those files surfaced almost two years ago.

    And regarding his crimes in Sweden, the plaintiff wrote a document on getting revenge on men by accusing them of sexual crimes. Any judge in his sane mind would laugh her out of the courtroom.

    And then, we should ask ourselves why is the Swedish Judiciary wasting so many resources in this farce. And why did Assange choose this quite extraordinary course of action, i.e. asking for asylum in an embassy.

    I reckon that Assange is far better informed and better advised than most people think, and he considers being extradited to Sweden a serious risk for his life and/or freedom. Seriously, that is the only hypothesis that makes any sense in this clusterfuck.

    8 5
    1. Mike Moyle
      Reply Icon

      Re: Warning: RANT

      "I reckon that Assange is far better informed and better advised than most people think, and he considers being extradited to Sweden a serious risk for his life and/or freedom. Seriously, that is the only hypothesis that makes any sense in this clusterfuck."

      No, another hypothesis that makes sense is that Assange is both paranoid and full of himself and his delusion is that being extradited to Sweden would be a serious risk for his life and/or freedom.

      OR --

      He knows that he, in fact DID do what he's accused of in Sweden and knows that his freedom is at risk there, AND --

      He knows that DID skip bail in Britain and is afraid that after serving his sentence in Sweden he'd be sent back to the UK to be tried and serve time for THAT.

      AND --

      Having shown that he is a flight risk, he could count on spending time before the respective trials wearing an unflattering orange jumpsuit (or local equivalent) and associating with a less elevated class of individuals, rather than lounging around country houses and luxury apartments.

      See...? There are PLENTY of other explanations that make sense.

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  14. CNS

    He might already have skipped the country. Regardless of where he is I think he's screwed because he will be found and summarily dealt with.

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  15. Uplink

    Way out

    So tell me this: What prevents the Ecuadorians from putting Assange on a helicopter and drop him on a boat in international waters? All they have to do is file a flight plan, not say who's on board, right? If gov.uk finds out while the helicopter is still in the air, would they send jets to down it? What? They'd have no mandate to shoot to kill. All they could do is actually escort said helicopter to international waters, where he'd be put on a Learjet to Ecuador. Who says they didn't do this already? :)

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Confucius say: "Journey of 10,000 miles begins with getting to the kerb."

      In Assange's case, easier said than done.

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      1. Scorchio!!
        Reply Icon
        Joke

        Re: Confucius say: "Journey of 10,000 miles begins with getting to the kerb."

        "In Assange's case, easier said than done."

        All your kerb are mine.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Way out

      So tell me this: What prevents the Ecuadorians from putting Assange on a helicopter and drop him on a boat in international waters?

      The fact that that area of London is a no-fly zone that can only be entered with permission. Guess what they won't get?

      Having said that, I don't know the Ecuadorian embassy - not sure there is even a place to land safely. Winching Assange into a hovering heli will provoke what I'd call the David Blaine effect: the irresistible urge to pelt dangling idiots that are not Boris Johnson with whatever comes handy. Which may or may not include him being used for target practice in the process.

      Nice idea, fails on practical grounds.

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    3. Bawbag
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      Re: Way out

      What stops them is the fact that he cannot leave that ground floor apartment without being arrested. The rest of the block is not part of the embassy. Any air traffic around that area will be watched closely. But he would never make it to a helicopter before being arrested. Oh and where out in the middle of International waters would you propose that Learjet lands? Last time I checked LJ do not make seaplanes.

      Look the fact is the Swedish police wish to question him. He had more than a fair hearing in many differing courts of the UK Justice system and they have ruled that he must be sent to Sweden to face up to the legal process there. He's trying to dodge that by breaking his UK bail conditions...he's made himself a criminal here. His work with wiki-leaks does not auto magically make him exempt from legal process of Sovereign states.

      It's funny hearing that Tinpot central American leader start banging the colonial drums in regards to the UK. Maybe he's forgotten that the US, Spain and the Porta-Gease where the main players in his shit strip of the world! Funny that as he also does not mind selling them cheap oil for trade favours & a blind eye to his crimes ;-) Mean while all Julians fans are crying about us threatening their Sovereignty to recover someone who has broken UK law. Protip: Asylum is not their to provide a get out of jail free card

      The nature of Swedish due process requires him to be within Swedish borders so they cannot and will not interview him in the UK. The Swedes also cannot promise he won't be extradited as they cannot be sure the US won't present clear evidence that would lead to him being put on trial at some point in the future & such a promise would fly of face of good Diplomacy.

      Face it. His numbers up either way. He has to go to Sweden to get that matter resolved come good or bad result for him. The US are still investigating Wiki leaks at this point in regards to who played what role with manning etc. If Julian thinks being granted protection by a small nation state will stop the US if they do find evidence to charge him with then he is dreaming that he did not in fact paint the target on his own back.

      Big brother cos there is a lack of Monopoly based Icons

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    4. KH99
      Reply Icon

      Re: Way out

      Thought the olympic air prohibitation zone over London is still active - so the helicopter might not get a flight path - and illegal entry might be a bit of a risk (seem to recall a helicopter is likely to be met with a military helicopter and snipers

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  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    the uk is invading ecaudor to take a pervert to sweden on behalf of the us

    got that?

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    1. Scorchio!!
      Reply Icon

      Re: the uk is invading ecaudor to take a pervert to sweden on behalf of the us

      "got that?"

      Get this:

      Like WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Alexander Barankov has worked to expose government misconduct via the Internet. Both men have received refuge on Ecuadorian territory. But while the South American country made world headlines granting Assange diplomatic asylum on Thursday morning, Barankov faces imminent extradition from Ecuador to its new ally Belarus, described by most observers as “Europe’s last dictatorship.”

      http://world.time.com/2012/08/16/assanges-special-asylum-why-ecuador-isnt-nice-to-anyone-else/?iid=ent-category-mostpop2

      This looks like two repressive regimes shuffling the deck to suit themselves.

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  17. Barrie Shepherd

    Looks like we are in for a cat and mouse game with Assange finding a way out of the Embassy with a following car chase through London towards an, as yet, unidentified airfield. The chase will have the obvious flashing blue lights and unmarked vans all shadowed by the US G men, who have their own agenda, probably in helicopters disguised as News Crew.

    Ultimately Assange will get to a plane which will take off - Britain will claim it did everything it could to arrest him and Ecuador will be doing some grandstanding.

    Then the plot goes two ways;

    a) The plane is intercepted in international airspace by a F1-11 which "escorts' it to a rendition friendly nation or;

    b) Assange arrives in Ecuador to a hero's welcome but 6 months later Ecuador suddenly finds it'self in receipt of a dollop of US aid. Assange then mysteriously looses his Diplomatic status "new evidence of his serious crimes has been brought to the attention of the Ecuadorian Government" and a midnight flight lands on US soil with one passenger escorted by 20 marines. Ecuador and the US become the best of friends and Sweden bows out on the basis of "his crimes in the US are more serious (sic) than those he is only accused of in Sweden"

    Whichever way the plot goes Assange is going to end up in US hands.

    Justice will not have been done and I will forever think Sweden could have done it differently.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Assange is going to end up in US hands.

      Assange is going to end up in US hands.

      The US is laughing its head off, because they have done exactly ZERO. Assange is doing all the scaremongering to prevent having to account for what he did in Sweden and now breaking his bail conditions. I find it spectacularly ironic that it is exactly Assange (tm) who knows full well he is bullshitting..

      Frankly, I think someone is going to get so fed up with the diplomatic problems the tw*t has created that they maybe just take him out with a sniper. One small bullet for man, one massive relief for mankind sort of thing, or maybe he gets an accident. How many stairs does that embassy have? How well do they cook their chickens? Does Assange have any unfortunate allergies other than for the decency to stand up for what he did?

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      1. Scorchio!!
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Re: Assange is going to end up in US hands.

        "The US is laughing its head off, because they have done exactly ZERO. Assange is doing all the scaremongering to prevent having to account for what he did in Sweden and now breaking his bail conditions. I find it spectacularly ironic that it is exactly Assange (tm) who knows full well he is bullshitting.."

        ...and the moral of the story is, always knock before entering and always dress for wet weather. Better still don't have sex with women in strange countries whose laws you do not know.

        Here is a Russian folk tale version of the moral; a forester is walking home one moonlit night, and sees a blackbird fluttering helplessly on the frosty ground. He picks it up, opens his jacket and puts it next to his chest, for warmth. On returning to his hut he notices the muck pile is still steaming, opens up a small cavity and puts the bird in up to its neck. Time passes... ...the bird awakens and, feeling better, starts to sing... ...a passing fox notices and decides "I'll have some of that" and eats it. The moral of the story is that it is not always your enemies who get you in it, it is not always your friends who pull you out of it, and there is absolutely no sense in singing about it when you are up to your neck in it.

        HTH Julie, HTH, and have a nice trip.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      A midnight flight

      a midnight flight lands on US soil with one passenger escorted used by 20 marines

      There, fixed that for you.

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    3. Psyx
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      "a) The plane is intercepted in international airspace by a F1-11 which "escorts' it to a rendition friendly nation or;"

      Wow. I wonder who'd recommission a long-out-of-service 40 year old bomber for an air-to-air interception?

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  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Consistency and morality.

    So, when a psychopathic representative of a corrupt and tyrannical foreign regime leans out a window and machine-guns one of our coppers, we can't enter the embassy and have to grant them safe passage out of the country because of diplomatic protocols, but when it's just someone who's humiliated the American government, all of a sudden we don't give a shit about those same protocols and we're willing to threaten to storm their embassy and/or seize him out of their protection on his way to the airport? Fuck you, Hague, you pathetic lickspittle for a foreign power.

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