Assange to be granted asylum in Ecuador: report

Ecuador has reportedly agreed to grant asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Britain's Guardian newspaper says Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has agreed to the request on humanitarian grounds.

Mr Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sexual assault allegations.

The Australian activist, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published thousands of secret United States diplomatic cables, says he fears he could be sent to the US, where he believes his life would be at risk.

And he faces the prospect of arrest as soon as he steps out of the embassy in London for breaching bail conditions.

On Tuesday, Ecuador foreign minister Ricardo Patino, who has led his country's analysis of the case, said the Andean country was also looking at how the 41-year-old Australian might travel to Ecuador if he is granted asylum.

"Beyond the international treaties, the right to asylum etc, and the autonomy or sovereignty the national government has to take a decision of this nature, we have to look at what will happen next," he said before an event in the highland city of Ambato.

"It's not only about whether to grant the asylum, because for Mr Assange to leave England he should have a safe pass from the British (government).

"Will that be possible? That's an issue we have to take into account."

It appears unlikely that the British government would give Mr Assange safe passage to an airport, as that would mean going against the Swedish arrest warrant and a ruling by Britain's own Supreme Court that the warrant was valid.

Mr Patino reiterated that Mr Assange's grounds to request political asylum are that he thinks he is being politically prosecuted and that he fears that he will be extradited onwards to the US from Sweden.

"We're analysing the weight, the veracity of that information," Mr Patino said.

Mr Correa, a leftist and self-declared enemy of "corrupt" media and US "imperialism", has said he sympathises with Mr Assange but also feels respect for the British legal system and for international law.

Mr Assange has not been charged with any offence in Sweden or in the US.

Swedish prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two WikiLeaks supporters in 2010.

Mr Assange says he had consensual sex with the women.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-15/assange-to-be-granted-asylum-in-ecuador-re...

i hope he gets out.
i love the guy.

just goes to prove how corrupt the people at the top are when it comes to transparency.

could prevailing please sue their arses off

why would he not be safe in Australia??????????


no kidding here I dont understand our laws sometimes.. we had hue and cry over Hicks.. hue and cry of Corby... but nothing over Assange..

I dont get it really.I dont know of any harm that came out all those releases.did a plane or a ship or a train get blown up???.. not that I know of.

yet the man gets no support from his own govt.even less from the public here..why is that???

I dont believe this tosh about rape I really dont,they withdrew their complaint.. but the police went ahead.. sounds more sinister??

I dont know if he is a goody or a baddy. it just seems strange to me.

Oh, he's one of the white-hats, Cods.
We NEED more like him.

Kat wrote on Aug 15^th, 2012 at 7:32am:




but why no support??????

why is he different from corby or hicks??

The mincer needs his day in court.
Those two females need justice too.

When a woman says, "I consent to having sex with you," don't believe her. There's no guarantee she really knows what she wants. If she's wrong, you'd be responsible for taking advantage of her.

The safest way to ensure you're not raping a woman is to ask her to marry you, because I'm pretty sure she won't say yes unless she wants a lifetime of sex with you. If she says no, she's obviously not desperate enough to have sex with you.

It's really a way of turning the tables and eliminating the confusion. If you're not prepared for the trouble that will come from having sex with a woman, don't do it. It's either she that wants it or you that wants it. Because the idea of marriage turns off whatever aphrodisiac you've got in your mind and body and makes you think carefully about what you're doing, it stops both of you from doing something stupid.

While I don't think sex outside of marriage is inherently wrong, it can be really stupid if you're not careful. People need to stop losing their pants and underwear over this.

Whatever Assange did, he was an idiot for doing it. If you wanna have sex with a woman, marry her first!!!! It may not be so important if you're a nobody, but if you're the head of WikiLeaks, you better watch where you put your phallus.

chicken_lipsforme wrote on Aug 15^th, 2012 at 8:33pm:


What 2 females? The ones that had consensual sex with him then weeks/months/years later decided he shoudla used a condom?

SOB