Ecuador granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday, setting up a diplomatic confrontation with embassy host country Britain.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino argued the Australian activist would not get a fair trial if he is eventually sent to the US to be tried for illegally publishing a trove of embarrassing class-ified documents.
The decision escalated a crisis set in motion when Mr Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in a sexual assault case.
“Nobody is going to scare us,” Ecuador ’s President Rafael Correa said on his Twitter account.
Mr Patino said his government had reached its decision after Britain, Sweden and the US had refused to provide guarantees that Mr Assange would not be extradited to the US.
In 2010, WikiLeaks obtained and published online an enormous cache of US military documents on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic cables that deeply embarrassed the US.
“If he were extradited to the United States, Mr Assange would not receive a fair trial and could be judged by special tribunals or military courts,” Mr Patino said.
“It is not implausible that he would be subjected to cruel and degrading treatment and be condemned to life in prison or even capital punishment.”
“As a result, Ecuador feels his fears are genuine, that he could be the victim of political persecution because of his decisive defence of the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media,” he said.
Mr Patino said that if Britain did not grant Mr Assange safe conduct out of the country, he would remain “under the protection of our London embassy”.
He said the Ecuadorian action should not lead to a rupture in relations between the two countries.
“It is a sovereign decision protected by international law.”
Police wearing stab-proof vests were on guard outside the block of flats that houses the embassy, ready to arrest Mr Assange if ever he tries to leave.
Mr Patino said yesterday that Ecuador had received “an express threat in writing” from Britain “that they could storm our embassy if Ecuador does not hand over Julian Assange for extradition”.
“Ecuador rejects in the strongest terms the explicit threat made in Britain’s official communication,” Mr Patino said, warning an embassy raid “would be a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention”.
Britain’s Foreign Office has argued it could invoke the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act of 1987, which it says allows it to revoke the diplomatic immunity of an embassy on British soil.