A Diplomatic Exit?
Like A Page Out Of Bond?
- For Julian Assange, A Tricky Exit For Asylum--NPR
Ecuador granted asylum to Julian Assange this week, but Britain says it still intends to arrest the WikiLeaks chief the moment he steps out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and extradite him to Sweden for questioning about alleged sexual assaults.
Answering the Charges
As of today, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He is in a sense under a form of house arrest. If he leaves the grounds of the embassy of the nation that has grated him asylum, he will be arrested and extradited to Sweden.
The issue is not him facing the charges he is accused of in Sweden, in my opinion. It may be that in Sweden, he will be taken by United States authorities and extradited there to face charges of espionage or other similar crimes.
That might be what is making this a dicey proposition for the British. If they do extradite Assange to Sweden, and he is taken into custody by the United States, the British may look like they were doing the dirty work for the United States.
So might the solution be to set up the treaty in such a way that Assange is only to go to Sweden to face those charges. He would be placed under house arrest in the Ecuadoran Embassy or Consulate in Stockholm, the depositions, etc, would take place either in the embassy or consulate or be conducted via video conference. If there it is determined a trial is to be held. Assange would either continue his confinement in Stockholm, or be placed in custody in Ecuador. He would return to Sweden for the trial, under the condition that Sweden not extradite him to any other nation.
A second option would be for Assange to remain in the embassy in London. In this scenario, the depositions, etc would be conducted via video conference. If a trial is warranted, he would be transported to Sweden and be held in the Ecuadoran Embassy or Consulate.
Assange does need to answer for his alleged crimes in Sweden. But it seems to me that this is a case of those crimes being small potatoes to the United States and the powerful forces that Assange and WikiLeaks have revealed.
