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Standoff continues at embassy after Ecuador grants asylum to WikiLeaks' Assange – Atika Shubert reports
Great Britain and Ecuador remained in a standoff early Friday, following the South American nation's decision to grant Julian Assange asylum - a decision British authorities are refusing to honor, saying they are committed to extraditing the WikiLeaks founder to Sweden.
According to the official Twitter feed of WikiLeaks - a website that's published hundreds of thousands of once-secret U.S. government documents - there were "over 35 police surrounding the Ecuadorian embassy in London" soon after 12:30 a.m. Friday. Britain's foreign ministry, though, earlier countered that there was a larger "police presence outside the British Embassy in Quito" than at the Ecuadorian mission in London.
Inside the latter embassy is Assange, the Australian national wanted in Sweden to face questioning over claims of rape and sexual molestation, as he's been since first seeking asylum in June.
On Thursday, he thanked his "courageous, independent" Ecuadorian hosts for protecting him "from persecution," after its Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño announced his nation was giving asylum to
Assange and urged British authorities to let him travel freely to South America.
This morning on "Early Start," Atika Shubert reports on the latest in the standoff.
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On Twitter
This is from German daily The Tageszeitung. I bet all the Assange groupies, and possibly Assange himself are not aware of this little tidbit that reveals the true face of asylum in Ecuador.
""""Die Tageszeitung writes:
"The case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has become an unbelievable example of international hypocrisy. Both of the countries involved, Great Britain and Ecuador, are blameworthy."
"Far from the world's attention, the (Ecuadorian) government is evicting an ex-government worker from Belarus who has enjoyed three years of asylum status in Ecuador. The reason is that six weeks ago, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko was in Quito to sign a number of trade agreements and applied pressure. A short time later the man, Alexander Barankov, was arrested in Quito. Against this background, the flowery words of Ecuador's foreign minister about the huge importance of political asylum don't hold much value."""""