Assange asks Ecuador for asylum

[Kevin_Kennedy]

The WikiLeaks founder is motivated by one thing: a desire to avoid extradition to the U.S. Can anyone blame him?

Julian Assange was scheduled within days to turn himself over to British authorities for extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in connection with a sexual assault case in which he has never been charged. Instead, Assange earlier today went to the Embassy of Ecuador in London and sought asylum from that country under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino, issued a statement indicating that his government is “evaluating the request” and that Assange will remain under protection at the Embassy pending a decision.

Ecuador may seem like a random choice but it’s actually quite rational. In 2010, a top official from that country offered Assange residency (though the Ecuadorian President backtracked after controversy ensued). Earlier this month, Assange interviewed that nation’s left-wing President, Rafael Correa, for his television program on RT. Among other things, Correa praised the transparency brought about by WikiLeaks’ release of diplomatic cables as being beneficial for Ecuador (“We have nothing to hide. If anything, the WikiLeaks [releases] have made us stronger”). President Correa also was quite critical of the U.S., explaining the reason he closed the American base in his country this way: “Would you accept a foreign military base in your country? It’s so simple, as I said that at the time, there is no problem in having a U.S. military base in Ecuador but ok, perfect - we can give permission for the intelligence base only if they allow us to install an Ecuadorian base in the United States, a military base. That’s it, no more problem.”

Assange asks Ecuador for asylum - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

I said back in 2010 when the offer was first made that Assange was crazy for not taking them up on it.

 

[Artevelde]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Two subjective adjectives amounting to nothing, and one complete fabrication of the truth. Well done.

 

[Artevelde]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Two subjective adjectives amounting to nothing, and one complete fabrication of the truth. Well done.

He is a fugitive from British justice. The police will arrest him whenever they can.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Two subjective adjectives amounting to nothing, and one complete fabrication of the truth. Well done.

He is a fugitive from British justice. The police will arrest him whenever they can.

He has every right to seek asylum.

 

[Artevelde]

Two subjective adjectives amounting to nothing, and one complete fabrication of the truth. Well done.

He is a fugitive from British justice. The police will arrest him whenever they can.

He has every right to seek asylum.

He is fleeing because of his involvement in common criminal offense. He's just a rapist on the run. Do you feel all rapists should be entitled to asylum?

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

He is a fugitive from British justice. The police will arrest him whenever they can.

He has every right to seek asylum.

He is fleeing because of his involvement in common criminal offense. He's just a rapist on the run. Do you feel all rapists should be entitled to asylum?

What criminal offense? He hasn't been charged with a crime in Sweden or anywhere else. It's funny, I don't recall anybody calling Chen Guangcheng a "fugitive" when he sought asylum from the US embassy in China.

 

[Artevelde]

He has every right to seek asylum.

He is fleeing because of his involvement in common criminal offense. He's just a rapist on the run. Do you feel all rapists should be entitled to asylum?

What criminal offense? He hasn't been charged with a crime in Sweden or anywhere else. It's funny, I don't recall anybody calling Chen Guangcheng a "fugitive" when he sought asylum from the US embassy in China.

So why is he refusing to be interviewed by Swedish police and why is he skipping bail and ignoring the terms of his house arrest?

Equating somebody who was persecuted for his political opinions with somebody who is trying to run from a criminal prosecution for rape is pretty stupid.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

He is fleeing because of his involvement in common criminal offense. He's just a rapist on the run. Do you feel all rapists should be entitled to asylum?

What criminal offense? He hasn't been charged with a crime in Sweden or anywhere else. It's funny, I don't recall anybody calling Chen Guangcheng a "fugitive" when he sought asylum from the US embassy in China.

So why is he refusing to be interviewed by Swedish police and why is he skipping bail and ignoring the terms of his house arrest?

Equating somebody who was persecuted for his political opinions with somebody who is trying to run from a criminal prosecution for rape is pretty stupid.

Why did Swedish police refuse to interview him while he was in Sweden? Why did Swedish police originally stop looking into the claims that he raped the two women? Why is Sweden abusing the European Arrest Warrant just to interview a person they haven't even charged with a crime?

The fact is that Assange is seeking asylum because he knows that if the UK turns him over to Sweden it's likely that he will then be turned over to the US, where he will be persecuted for political reasons.

 

[Artevelde]

What criminal offense? He hasn't been charged with a crime in Sweden or anywhere else. It's funny, I don't recall anybody calling Chen Guangcheng a "fugitive" when he sought asylum from the US embassy in China.

So why is he refusing to be interviewed by Swedish police and why is he skipping bail and ignoring the terms of his house arrest?

Equating somebody who was persecuted for his political opinions with somebody who is trying to run from a criminal prosecution for rape is pretty stupid.

Why did Swedish police refuse to interview him while he was in Sweden? Why did Swedish police originally stop looking into the claims that he raped the two women? Why is Sweden abusing the European Arrest Warrant just to interview a person they haven't even charged with a crime?

The fact is that Assange is seeking asylum because he knows that if the UK turns him over to Sweden it's likely that he will then be turned over to the US, where he will be persecuted for political reasons.

Assange fled outside of Swedish jurisdiction. He has exhausted his legal manouevers and several courts have found that the extradition request is entirely valid. He is a common criminal fugitive.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

So why is he refusing to be interviewed by Swedish police and why is he skipping bail and ignoring the terms of his house arrest?

Equating somebody who was persecuted for his political opinions with somebody who is trying to run from a criminal prosecution for rape is pretty stupid.

Why did Swedish police refuse to interview him while he was in Sweden? Why did Swedish police originally stop looking into the claims that he raped the two women? Why is Sweden abusing the European Arrest Warrant just to interview a person they haven't even charged with a crime?

The fact is that Assange is seeking asylum because he knows that if the UK turns him over to Sweden it's likely that he will then be turned over to the US, where he will be persecuted for political reasons.

Assange fled outside of Swedish jurisdiction. He has exhausted his legal manouevers and several courts have found that the extradition request is entirely valid. He is a common criminal fugitive.

He offered to meet with the police while he was in Sweden, and they weren't interested. It wasn't until he had already left and WikiLeaks had released Cablegate that they suddenly became interested in the claims of these two women. He hasn't exhausted his legal maneuvers, as his plea for asylum clearly shows. Again, if Assange is a common criminal fugitive, then so was Chen Guangcheng. You say you can't compare the two, but the only difference between them is in your mind. If Chen Guangcheng had the right to seek asylum based on human rights violations, then so does Assange who could certainly never receive anything remotely like a fair trial in the United States. Just because one is "good" in your mind, and the other isn't doesn't change this fact.

 

[JWBooth]

I hope he is successful. No doubt if they do grant him asylum, he will be snatched off the streets in Ecuador and brought to trial for shedding light on the shady activities of our government and others.

 

[Artevelde]

Why did Swedish police refuse to interview him while he was in Sweden? Why did Swedish police originally stop looking into the claims that he raped the two women? Why is Sweden abusing the European Arrest Warrant just to interview a person they haven't even charged with a crime?

The fact is that Assange is seeking asylum because he knows that if the UK turns him over to Sweden it's likely that he will then be turned over to the US, where he will be persecuted for political reasons.

Assange fled outside of Swedish jurisdiction. He has exhausted his legal manouevers and several courts have found that the extradition request is entirely valid. He is a common criminal fugitive.

He offered to meet with the police while he was in Sweden, and they weren't interested. It wasn't until he had already left and WikiLeaks had released Cablegate that they suddenly became interested in the claims of these two women. He hasn't exhausted his legal maneuvers, as his plea for asylum clearly shows. Again, if Assange is a common criminal fugitive, then so was Chen Guangcheng. You say you can't compare the two, but the only difference between them is in your mind. If Chen Guangcheng had the right to seek asylum based on human rights violations, then so does Assange who could certainly never receive anything remotely like a fair trial in the United States. Just because one is "good" in your mind, and the other isn't doesn't change this fact.

Complete nonsense. You've got your mind warped by conspiracy theories.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Assange fled outside of Swedish jurisdiction. He has exhausted his legal manouevers and several courts have found that the extradition request is entirely valid. He is a common criminal fugitive.

He offered to meet with the police while he was in Sweden, and they weren't interested. It wasn't until he had already left and WikiLeaks had released Cablegate that they suddenly became interested in the claims of these two women. He hasn't exhausted his legal maneuvers, as his plea for asylum clearly shows. Again, if Assange is a common criminal fugitive, then so was Chen Guangcheng. You say you can't compare the two, but the only difference between them is in your mind. If Chen Guangcheng had the right to seek asylum based on human rights violations, then so does Assange who could certainly never receive anything remotely like a fair trial in the United States. Just because one is "good" in your mind, and the other isn't doesn't change this fact.

Complete nonsense. You've got your mind warped by conspiracy theories.

Nothing I said was a conspiracy theory.

 

[Douger]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Two subjective adjectives amounting to nothing, and one complete fabrication of the truth. Well done.

He is a fugitive from British justice. The police will arrest him whenever they can.

British and Justice should never be used in the same sentence.......much like Military and Intelligence or USA and Freedom (FreeDumb is OK)

 

[R.C. Christian]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Maybe we can just send a drone to kill him? He's a hero, and a much better human being than our Nobel prize winning president who kills kids on a consistent basis. It takes a lot of guts to be on a kill list. He'll be safely in Ecuador soon and you haters won't be able to touch him. Fugitive yes, coward? Not even close.

 

[Artevelde]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Maybe we can just send a drone to kill him? He's a hero, and a much better human being than our Nobel prize winning president who kills kids on a consistent basis. It takes a lot of guts to be on a kill list. He'll be safely in Ecuador soon and you haters won't be able to touch him. Fugitive yes, coward? Not even close.

Maybe they will just keep him cooped up in the embassy until Ecuador extradites him.

In any event he'll miss out on the big bucks making propaganda TV for Putin.

 

[Douger]

The man is a coward and a liar. And now a fugitive.

Maybe we can just send a drone to kill him? He's a hero, and a much better human being than our Nobel prize winning president who kills kids on a consistent basis. It takes a lot of guts to be on a kill list. He'll be safely in Ecuador soon and you haters won't be able to touch him. Fugitive yes, coward? Not even close.

RC. You're preaching to fucking morons. They don't know shit, including your user names meaning or even who the pResident is.
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