Ecuador determined to defy British threat over WikiLeaks founder

Ecuadorian envoy defies British threat in diplomatic row over WikiLeaks founder

Ecuadorian envoy in the Turkish capital has said his country would strike back if the British government violated Ecuador’s sovereignty in a diplomatic row over the WikiLekas frontman, Julian Assange.

“We will give a due response if Britain disregards our sovereignty,” Augusto Saa Corriere, Ecuador’s ambassador in Ankara, told the Anadolu Agency.Britain has threatened to revoke the diplomatic protection of Ecuador’s embassy in London where Assange had been holed up under political asylum for more than two months, insinuating that police could enter the embassy premises to arrest and extradite the WikiLeaks founder to Sweden where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct against two women.

“If that happens, it would spark a huge diplomatic crisis. Forcibly entering into a country’s embassy is tantamount to threatening that country’s sovereignty. We call on Britain to respect and abide by the Vienna Convention [on Diplomatic Relations] of 1961,” Corriere said.

Assange and his supporters fear that his extradition to Sweden with sexual abuse allegations would have him end up in the United States to stand trial to face charges over the 2010 publication by WikiLeaks of secret US cables.

“We are often asked why we had granted political asylum to someone who accused with rape in his home country. First of all, we approach cautiously to the allegations directed to Assange, and we believe that the real motive behind the accusations have to do with the fact that he is the founder of the WikiLeaks,” Corriere said.

24.08.2012
SOURCE: AA