Assange's asylum win won't set him free

17 Aug 2012, 1:25 pm   -   Source: AAP

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has won asylum in Ecuador, but he is no closer to freedom, with the British government digging in its heels.

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He's won asylum in Ecuador, but Julian Assange's hopes of getting there increasingly appear reliant on a political solution.

The decision by the South American nation to identify the WikiLeaks founder as a refugee is a symbolic boost for Mr Assange, but legal experts say that does little to help him avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Instead, with Britain saying it won't grant the silver-haired Australian, 41, safe passage out of the country, the case has done much to drag the two nations into an international face-off.

In response to calls for the Australian government to intervene, federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says the matter is between Mr Assange, Britain and Ecuador. Foreign Minister Bob Carr agrees.

"Australia's role remains unchanged," Senator Carr said through a spokesman.

The Ecuadorian government was quick to criticise Canberra, noting that "Mr Assange is without the due protection and help that he should receive from any state of which he is a citizen".

In granting Mr Assange diplomatic asylum, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino on Thursday said his country was taking action because Mr Assange faced a serious threat of unjust prosecution at the hands of US officials.

That was a nod to the fears expressed by Mr Assange and others that the Swedish sex case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the United States - something disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she did not accept Mr Assange's claim, or Ecuador's acceptance of it, that he could potentially face persecution in the US.

"With regard to the charge that the US was intent on persecuting him, I reject that completely," she said.

Interpol, the France-based international police agency, says Mr Assange remains on its most-wanted list.

Mr Patino said he tried to secure guarantees from the Americans, the British and the Swedes that Mr Assange would not be extradited to the US, but was rebuffed by all three.

If Mr Assange were extradited to the US "he would not have a fair trial, could be judged by special or military courts, and it's not implausible that cruel and degrading treatment could be applied, that he could be condemned to life in prison, or the death penalty", Mr Patino said.

Inside the central London embassy, where he has been holed up since June 19, Mr Assange was grateful for Ecuador's support, but warned his challenges were not at an end.

"It is a significant victory for myself, and my people. Things will probably get more stressful now," he told embassy staff.

"It was not Britain or my home country, Australia, that stood up to protect me from persecution, but a courageous, independent Latin American nation."

Learning of her son's asylum approval at home in Brisbane, Christine Assange said it was too soon to know what his next move would be.

Supporters who have visited Mr Assange say he is living inside a tiny office at Ecuador's embassy, a small apartment of five or six rooms inside a larger building which also houses Colombia's embassy.

He has a bed, access to a phone and a connection to the internet. "It's not quite the Hilton," said one of his visitors, Gavin MacFadyen.

Spanish rights lawyer Baltasar Garzon, who is helping Mr Assange's defence, raised the possibility of taking the matter before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Mr Assange shot to international prominence in 2010 after his WikiLeaks website began publishing a huge trove of American diplomatic and military secrets - including a quarter of a million US embassy cables that shed a harsh light on the backroom dealings of US diplomats. Amid the ferment, two Swedish women accused him of sexual assault; he has been fighting extradition to Sweden ever since.

Significantly, Ecuador granted Mr Assange diplomatic rather than political asylum.

"Political asylum would imply that Great Britain is persecuting him or threatens to persecute him," said Robert Sloane, international law professor at Boston University.

By granting diplomatic asylum, Ecuador is keeping the door open to political negotiations. Mr Sloane said that the type of asylum does not confer any diplomatic status or special privileges on Assange.

In a mark of its anger over the asylum ruling, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Ecuador's ambassador to complain about the decision. The country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said in a message posted on Twitter that "our firm legal and constitutional system guarantees the rights of each and every one. We firmly reject any accusations to the contrary."

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa also seemed in no mood for compromise, tweeting: "No one is going to frighten us."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will not allow Mr Assange safe passage to Latin America. "There is no legal basis for us to do so," he said.

He said Mr Assange was wanted in Sweden to answer allegations of "serious sexual offences" and that the extradition had nothing to do with the work of WikiLeaks or with the United States.

Hague also insisted that Britain did not recognise the concept of diplomatic asylum, which he said was not a universal means of granting refuge.

Britain's response to Ecuador's offer prompted Peru, the acting chair of the Union of South American Nations, to call an extraordinary meeting for Sunday at Ecuador's request in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to discuss the Assange standoff.

In Washington, Ecuador asked the Organisation of American States to hold a meeting on August 23 to discuss the Assange situation. Several nations on the OAS's Permanent Council supported the idea, while the US and Canada opposed it, and a decision is still to be made.

Under Ecuador's asylum offer, Mr Assange is not permitted to make political statements or grant interviews of a political nature, restrictions that are standard for anyone granted asylum, said an Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry official.

However, in a message posted to its Twitter account, WikiLeaks said Mr Assange would make a public statement outside Ecuador's embassy on Sunday afternoon - potentially offering British police the chance to arrest him.

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