Ecuadorean government urges Britain to allow Assange safe passage to South America

Record ID: 876475

  • Title: Ecuadorean government urges Britain to allow Assange safe passage to South America
  • Date: 19th May 2017
  • Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (MAY 19, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIORS OF ECUADOREAN FOREIGN OFFICE FOREIGN MINISTER, GUILLAUME LONG, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FOREIGN MINISTER, GUILLAUME LONG, SAYING: "We are pleased about the declarations made today by prosecutor Lee, we celebrate the fact that Mr. Assange is free of charges, but we cannot help but express our sadness and indignation for the fact that we have had to wait almost five years since Mr. Assange entered the Ecuadorean embassy in the United Kingdom, and seven years of arbitrary detention so that we are finally talking about the European order for detention falling." LONG SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FOREIGN MINISTER, GUILLAUME LONG, SAYING: "We begin by urging the United Kingdom, calling again on the United Kingdom to grant Assange safe passage so that he can finally benefit from asylum (in Ecuador). But of course, we will deploy all our diplomatic capabilities with the British authorities so that this objective can be achieved." LONG LEAVING LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (MAY 19, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ECUADORIAN EMBASSY AND ITS BALCONY, MEDIA GATHERED ECUADORIAN FLAG FLYING EMBASSY / MEDIA WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE WALKING ONTO EMBASSY'S BALCONY, MAKES CLENCHED FIST IN THE AIR
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2017 18:34
  • Keywords: United Kingdom safe passage Julian Assange Ecuador
  • Location: QUITO, ECUADOR AND LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
  • City: QUITO, ECUADOR AND LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016HIA0QV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Ecuadorean government welcomed a decision by Swedish prosecutors to drop an investigation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday (May 19), but called on Britain to grant Assange safe passage to Ecuador where he is offered asylum.
    Assange, 45, took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden after two women made rape and sexual molestation allegations against him, which he denies.
    He feared Sweden would hand him over to the United States to face prosecution over WikiLeaks' publication of swathes of classified military and diplomatic documents in one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history
    Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said Assange was welcome to stay in the embassy if safe passage out of Britain was not granted.
    While Assange may still not be able to leave the embassy in the upmarket Knightsbridge area of London, the prosecutor's decision to stop the investigation into allegations of rape brings to an end a seven-year stand-off with Sweden.
    Long said the Ecuadorean government was pleased about the decision but lamented "seven years of arbitrary detention" in order to get to this point.
    He added that recent statements by U.S. President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicating that United States authorities would seek to arrest Assange were a sign that he still faces persecution outside Britain.
    British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday it would be "an operational matter for the police" to decide whether to arrest Assange if he left the embassy.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register