QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador accused Britain on Wednesday of threatening
to storm its London embassy to arrest Julian Assange after the U.K. issued a
stern warning to the South American nation ahead of its decision on an asylum
bid by the WikiLeaks founder.
Foreign Minister Ricardo
Patino said Britain had earlier in the day issued “a written threat that it
could assault our embassy” if Assange is not handed over.
Patino also said he would
announce on Thursday morning whether Ecuador would grant the request of the
secret-spilling former Australian hacker, who took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy
on June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden. Assange faces questioning there for
alleged sexual misconduct.
As news broke of the warning,
police were seen reinforcing Scotland Yard’s presence outside the embassy in a
tony London neighborhood near the Harrods department store.
About 30 people yelling
“England, what part don’t you understand, we are sovereign!” arrived at the
Ecuadorean embassy to protest, briefly trampling on a British flag.
Britain’s Foreign Office
issued a statement citing a 1987 British law it says permits the revocation of
diplomatic status of a building if the foreign power occupying it “ceases to
use land for the purposes of its mission or exclusively for the purposes of a
consular post.”
Under international law,
diplomatic posts are considered the territory of the foreign nation.
Asked by The Associated Press
about Patino’s characterization of Britain’s warning, a Foreign Office official
said via email that the letter “was not a threat” and was intended to clarify
“all aspects of British law that Ecuador should be aware of.” The official
would not be identified by name, citing policy.
Patino said the missive
including the veiled threat was delivered to his country’s Foreign Ministry in
writing and verbally to its ambassador in London on Wednesday. The cited was
Britain’s 1987 Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act.
Patino said Ecuador “rejects
in the most energetic terms the explicit threat of the official British
communication.”
The Foreign Office statement
did not elaborate on Britain’s intentions if Assange were to be granted political
asylum by Ecuador whose president, Rafael Correa, has expressed sympathy for
the Wikileaks founder.
“We have an obligation to extradite Mr. Assange and it is only right
that we give Ecuador (the) full picture,” the statement said, before adding:
“We are still committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution.”
Assange, whose publishing via
the Internet of thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables and military
dispatches has angered U.S. officials, says the charges against him are trumped
up.
His supporters say they
believe the U.S. has secretly indicted him and would extradite him from Sweden.
Correa has said Assange could
face the death penalty in the United States and for that reason he considers
the asylum request a question of political persecution.
Analysts in Ecuador expressed
doubts that Britain would raid the embassy.
Professor Julio Echeverria of
Quito’s FLACSO university said Britain “has a long establish tradition in
Europe of respecting diplomatic missions,” which under international law are
considered sovereign territory.
A former Ecuadorean ambassador
to London, Mauricio Gandara, told The Associated Press “I refuse to believe in
this threat because if asylum is granted the British government will not grant
safe passage and Mr. Assange could be in the embassy for a long time.”
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