UK threatens to storm Ecuadorean embassy to seize Assange
By Robert Stevens
17 August 2012
The threat by the UK?s Conservative-Liberal Democrat government to
storm the Ecuadorean embassy to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
shows contempt for international law and a colonial-style disregard for
Ecuadorean sovereignty.
It marks a new stage in the British ruling class? descent into
criminality, aiming to silence a man who has helped expose many of its
innumerable crimes and those of the United States and other imperialist
powers.
Thursday saw the much-anticipated announcement by Ecuador that it will
grant political asylum to Assange, based upon the probability that his
extradition to Sweden would be followed by his transfer to the United
States and a trial for treason. A government spokesman said that
Ecuador had sought assurances from Sweden that Assange would not be
transferred to the US, but the Swedish authorities had refused to do
so.
The case against Assange is a transparent politically motivated frame-
up, utilising trumped-up accusations of sexual assault in Sweden.
Ecuador offered to allow Swedish prosecutors the opportunity to
question Assange at the embassy, in person or via videoconference. But
this was rejected.
Police outside the Ecuadorean Embassy
On Wednesday night, police officers began to gather around the embassy
in anticipation of the expected announcement by Ecuador. Assange
entered the embassy on June 19, requesting diplomatic sanctuary and
political asylum under the United Nations Human Rights Declaration.
This followed the ruling by the UK?s Supreme Court rejecting Assange?s
final appeal against his extradition to Sweden.
In its letter that day to the Ecuadorean government, the British
government stated that the embassy will be given a weeks? notice of a
raid by the police, should it grant asylum. On Thursday morning, police
vans were stationed along roads next to the building. A number of those
protesting to demand Assange?s freedom were forcibly moved from in
front of the embassy to a pen set up across the road. Arrests of
protesters were made, including one who was filming a live feed for the
Occupy News Network.
Demonstrators chanted ?Hands off Assange?, ?Hands off Ecuador?, and
?There?s only one decision?No Extradition?.
On Wednesday Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Pati隳 announced in a
news conference the receipt of the letter from the UK government, via
the British Embassy.
?Ecuador rejects in the most emphatic terms the explicit threat of the
British official communication,? he said, denouncing the threat as
?improper of a democratic, civilised and law-abiding country.?
?If the measure announced in the British official communication is
enacted, it will be interpreted by Ecuador as an unacceptable,
unfriendly and hostile act and as an attempt against our sovereignty,?
he warned. ?It would force us to respond. We are not a British
colony.?
The letter from the UK Foreign Office was couched in language
befitting Britain?s role as an imperialist aggressor. Claiming the
Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987 provides for actions to be
taken ?in order to arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the
embassy,? it continued: ?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.?
On Thursday a UK government spokesman issued a statement saying a
decision by Ecuador?s government to grant Assange the right to
political asylum would be disregarded. ?Giving asylum doesn?t
fundamentally change anything,? the spokesman said.
The hypocrisy and cynicism of the British government in its claim that
Ecuador is acting in breach of the Vienna convention knows no bounds.
It is they who are overturning fundamental precepts of international
law, including the Vienna Convention, in an attempt to railroad Assange
to trial. International law specifically defines foreign embassies as
sovereign space, and such diplomatic posts are considered as territory
of the foreign nation.
Commenting on the dire consequences of threat to seize Assange,
Geoffrey Robertson, an internationally recognized human rights lawyer
who has represented Assange, said: ?It?s very clear from the Vienna
Convention and indeed from our own Diplomatic Privileges Act from 1964
that the diplomatic premises and consular premises are what we call
inviolable.
?And the local police can only enter them with the consent of the head
of the mission.?
The British government cited the Diplomatic & Consular Premises Act of
1987 as providing the basis for withdrawing recognition of the
Ecuadorean embassy. However, the Act is specific in stating, ?The
Secretary of State shall only give or withdraw consent or withdraw
acceptance if he is satisfied that to do so is permissible under
international law.?
Were the British police to be sent into the embassy without consent to
arrest Assange, this would be a clear violation of international law,
specifically Article 22 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations.
Opposing Ecuador?s request to allow Assange the freedom to leave
Britain, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague declared bluntly: ?We will
not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the United Kingdom, nor is
there any legal basis for us to do so. The United Kingdom does not
recognise the principle of diplomatic asylum.?
In a statement, Assange thanked the Ecuadorean government for granting
the right to asylum, adding, ?While today is a historic victory, our
struggles have just begun. The unprecedented US investigation against
WikiLeaks must be stopped.
?While today much of the focus will be on the decision of the
Ecuadorean government, it is just as important that we remember Bradley
Manning [the US soldier accused to leaking information to WikiLeaks]
has been detained without trial for over 800 days.
?The task of protecting WikiLeaks, its staff, its supporters and its
alleged sources continues.?
The descent of British diplomacy into threats and police thuggery
against another sovereign nation is of a piece with the naked
criminality being defended. The ruling class and its political
representatives, including the former Labour governments of Tony Blair
and Gordon Brown have over the last decade planned and waged illegal
wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are now supporting the
US-coordinated covert war against Syria, aimed at replacing the
government of Bashar al-Assad and paving the way for war with Iran.
The targeting of Assange is also being conducted in collusion with the
Obama administration in the United States, Britain?s partner in crime.
中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中
|
