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kalikshama -> Julian Assange Seeks Asylum In Ecuador (6/20/2012 8:48:09 AM)
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The NPR story I heard framed this as not a means to escape charges in Sweden per se, but the likely extradition to the US that would occur if he goes to Sweden:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/julian-assange-seeks-asy_n_1609725.html
LONDON — WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange has made a run for the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, seeking asylum in a long shot move that, if successful, would place him in a small, friendly South American country rather than in Sweden facing questioning about alleged sex crimes.
Tuesday's unexpected caper has added a new and bizarre twist to Assange's increasingly desperate bid to avoid extradition to Scandinavia. Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said the leftist government of President Rafael Correa – an administration often at odds with Washington – was weighing the request, although he did not indicate when a decision might be made.
Assange said in a brief statement that he was grateful "to the Ecuadorean ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application."
Assange's legal options in the U.K. had almost completely run out. Less than a week ago Britain's Supreme Court re-endorsed its decision to allow the 40-year-old's extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted over sex crimes allegations. The accusations – which stem from Assange's trip to the country in mid-2010 – have cast a cloud over his online organization's spectacular leaks of U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence material.
Ecuador – where less than one in three people have access to the Web – may seem an unlikely place for the former computer hacker to seek refuge, but in many ways it's an obvious choice.
"It's one of the few countries that has given a great opening to Assange's entire cause," said Grace Jaramillo, an international relations professor at Ecuador's FLACSO university.
"Correa sees Assange as a critic of the status quo," he said. "He has been challenging the United States and Correa likes that."
Assange argues that extradition to Sweden is a first step in efforts to remove him to the United States, where he claims to have been secretly indicted over his disclosure of 250,000 State Department cables. He has spent the better part of two years fighting the move through the British courts.
But legal experts said Assange's flight to the Ecuadorean embassy was a desperate one.
U.K. extradition specialist Karen Todner said she couldn't make sense of the move, while Michael Scharf, based at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, said he didn't believe Assange could be given asylum status.
"I think they are going to end up asking him to leave the premises," said Scharf.
Ecuador's mission in London said in a statement that Assange would "remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorean government," while his application was considered. Britain's foreign ministry said it was working with Ecuadorean authorities to resolve the situation, but gave few other details.
Aside from Assange's brief statement, WikiLeaks did not elaborate on its leader's plans. Nearly a dozen calls, texts and emails seeking further comment from WikiLeaks and its staff weren't returned.
Patino, speaking at a news conference in Quito, the Ecuadorean capital, gave the fullest account of Assange's reasoning, saying he had personally written to Correa to ask for asylum.
Assange, who is Australian, had argued that "the authorities in his country will not defend his minimum guarantees before any government or ignore the obligation to protect a politically persecuted citizen." Patino said. That may be a reference to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who last month said that her country could not protect Assange from other countries' justice systems.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/julian-assange-seeks-asy_n_1609725.html
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