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Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said the UK would be committing diplomatic suicide if it tried to enter his country’s embassy in London.

Rafael Correa said such a move would open up the UK to having its diplomatic missions around the world entered.

The president was speaking to state television about the continuing dispute over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Julian Assange has been in the embassy since June and been granted asylum by Ecuador as he fights extradition.

The UK says it is obliged to extradite Julian Assange to Sweden, where he faces questioning over sex assault claims, which he denies, and he will be arrested if he leaves the embassy.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said the UK would be committing diplomatic suicide if it tried to enter his country's embassy in London

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said the UK would be committing diplomatic suicide if it tried to enter his country's embassy in London

Julian Assange entered the embassy in June while on bail before extradition proceedings against him started.

The interview with Rafael Correa opened with a short report from inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

It showed Julian Assange hugging his lawyer, the former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, just minutes before he addressed crowds of his supporters from the embassy’s balcony on Sunday.

Rafael Correa was then asked if he thought there was now no possibility the UK authorities would enter the embassy premises to arrest Julian Assange, as they had previously indicated they might in a letter to Ecuadorean officials.

The preseident said: “While the United Kingdom hasn’t retracted nor apologized, the danger still exists.”

He said such a course of action would be “suicide for Great Britain because then people could enter their diplomatic premises all around the world and they wouldn’t be able to say a thing”.

There was very little said on what the next diplomatic step might be regarding removing Julian Assange from the embassy.

But Rafael Correa said, if needed, he was prepared to take the issue to the United Nations.

He also said Ecuador was hoping for strong support from a meeting of the Organization of American States on Friday.

“Remember that David beat Goliath. And with many Davids it’s easier to bring down a number of Goliaths,” he said.

“So we’re hoping for clear and coherent backing because this violates all inter-American law, all international law, the Vienna Convention and all diplomatic traditions of the last, at least, 300 years on a global scale.”

Returning to the question of Julian Assange, Rafael Correa said: “The British say they have no choice but to extradite him but why didn’t they extradite Augusto Pinochet?”

While Rafael Correa may not have thrown any fresh light on where the stalemate goes next, he did reiterate that the channels of negotiation with the UK were still open.

The UK has insisted it will not grant Julian Assange “safe passage” to Ecuador as it seeks a diplomatic solution to him being given asylum.

The Supreme Court in May dismissed Julian Assange’s bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.

On Sunday, Julian Assange, 41, used his first public statement since entering the embassy to claim asylum – delivered from a balcony – to call on the US to stop its “war on whistle-blowers”.

The US is carrying out an investigation into WikiLeaks, which has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables, embarrassing several governments and international businesses.

In 2010, two female ex-WikiLeaks volunteers accused Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, of committing sexual offences against them while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture.

Julian Assange claims the sex was consensual and the allegations are politically motivated and fears extradition to the US if extradited to Sweden.

 

 

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to make a public statement later on the diplomatic row that has engulfed him since being granted asylum by Ecuador.

WikiLeaks says Julian Assange will speak outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has taken refuge.

Julian Assange faces extradition to Sweden over sexual assault claims, which he denies.

Ecuador’s president has suggested Julian Assange could co-operate with Sweden if assurances are given that there would be no extradition to a third country.

Australian Julian Assange, 41 – whose WikiLeaks website has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables embarrassing countries including the US – first walked into the embassy in Knightsbridge, asking for protection, two months ago.

Julian Assange is expected to make a public statement later on the diplomatic row that has engulfed him since being granted asylum by Ecuador

Julian Assange is expected to make a public statement later on the diplomatic row that has engulfed him since being granted asylum by Ecuador

Julian Assange entered the embassy after the UK’s Supreme Court dismissed his bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.

It is established international protocol that local police and security forces are not permitted to enter an embassy, unless they have the express permission of the ambassador.

On Thursday a post appeared on the WikiLeaks Twitter feed which said: “ANNOUNCEMENT: Julian Assange will give a live statement in front of the Ecuadorian embassy, Sunday 2:00 pm.”

However, it is not clear precisely how this statement will be made and Julian Assange has been warned by the British authorities that he will be arrested when he leaves the embassy.

The Sunday Times quotes sources close to Julian Assange who say he would be prepared to leave the embassy if guarantees are given by Sweden that he will not be extradited to the US.

His supporters claim he could face persecution and even the death penalty.

On Friday, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa used his weekly national address to say that the South American country had never said Julian Assange should not “answer to the Swedish justice system”.

“What we have always asked for is a guarantee that there won’t be a second extradition to a third country as that would put at risk Mr. Assange’s life and freedom.”

Rafael Correa said a letter from the British government that drew attention to the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 was “intolerable” and an “explicit threat”.

The act could allow the UK to potentially lift the embassy’s diplomatic status to allow police to enter the building to arrest Julian Assange for breaching his bail terms.

Meanwhile, the Alba group of leftist Latin American nations – founded by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez – has warned the UK government “it will face grave consequences around the world if it directly breaches the territorial integrity” of the embassy.

The UK Foreign Office has said the letter was sent to clarify “all aspects of British law that Ecuador should be aware of”.

It has also said it would follow its obligations, under the Extradition Act, to arrest Julian Assange if he leaves the embassy.

Sweden, meanwhile, has said it is “unacceptable that Ecuador would want to halt the Swedish judicial process”.

It wants to question Julian Assange over allegations that he sexually assaulted two female ex-WikiLeaks volunteers while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture in 2010.

 

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