Ecuador stands its ground – tells Brits to back-off on Assange

Ecuador urges Britain to retract embassy threat
22 August, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Ecuador on Tuesday called on Britain to retract a threat to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its embassy in London, adding that Quito remains open to dialogue.

Britain set off a diplomatic firestorm last week when it threatened to storm the Ecuadorian embassy to arrest the 41-year-old Australian, who is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape and molestation.

Ecuador has granted Assange asylum, but Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country.

Assange claims Sweden plans to hand him over to the United States, where he fears prosecution over WikiLeaks’s release of a vast cache of confidential US government files.

Speaking to reporters, President Rafael Correa said Britain must “withdraw the grave error it committed by threatening Ecuador to possibly raid its diplomatic mission to arrest Mr Julian Assange.”

However, “despite this impertinence, this rude and unacceptable threat, we remain open to dialogue,” he added.

Britain has angered Ecuador by suggesting 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 and go in to arrest Assange. …more