Above Photo: WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London. | Photo: Reuters
Note: The Courage Foundation, which advocates for whistleblowers and Julian Assange, is regularly updating the situation regarding Julian Assange. On August 1, 2018 they reported ”
Julian Burnside, an Australian member of Assange’s legal team, called on his government to intercede in the embassy situation:
The main option for Assange is for the Australian government to step in and help him by doing a diplomatic deal with the British, which should not be difficult to do, which would enable him to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy and travel safely back to Australia.
The Courage Foundation liveblog is updated regularly. Courage is a good place to go to keep track of the Assange persecution and what is being done to resolve it. KZ
Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno affirmed that Julian Assange’s exit would depend on whether he accepted or not the sentence implying the violation of U.K. laws and prevention arrest.
“Ideally, we would debate with Mr. Assange and his lawyer whether he would be willing to accept the conditions that the United Kingdom is submitting for the possibility of an exit,” he said during an interview with Spanish daily El Pais, during an official visit in Madrid.
“If this happens, we believe there would be a sentence he would have to complete for having violated the principle of presenting himself formally before the British law. And once this would be done, he could right after this enjoy the right to be extradited to a country where he does not run any risk,” added Moreno.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012. He was granted asylum by former president Correa to help Assange avoid extradition to the United States, where he could face the death penalty for espionage and treason.
In January Assange was granted Ecuadorean citizenship. Moreno has stated that he did not make that decision, stressing it was former foreign affairs minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, who gave Assange citizenship.
Last week the leader of the Spanish party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, argued the detention order was part of a trend of judicializing politics in the region.
