Julian Assange, the founder of the controversial website WikiLeaks, is wanted in Sweden for alleged sexual crimes. Arrested in the United Kingdom, on behalf of the Swedish authorities in December 2010, he breached his bail conditions by seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in June this year, to avoid extradition to Sweden. President Rafael Correa of Ecuador has since granted him political asylum but he has been denied safe passage to Ecuador by the British authorities and continues to be a virtual prisoner in the Embassy.
Mr Assange’s case is a curious one. Political asylum is usually associated with citizens of totalitarian states seeking sanctuary in the West to escape political persecution, torture and threats to their lives. Mr Assange, an Australian, is trying to get out of the country that gave rise to parliamentary democracy (the UK), to escape due process in a liberal democratic nation (Sweden), because he fears that the country that prides itself on being the most democratic in the world (the USA) wishes to extradite him from Sweden to answer for the embarrassment caused by WikiLeaks. In this respect, he has turned to a country with a president with distinct authoritarian tendencies and a dubious record on freedom of the press and freedom of expression (Ecuador).
The situation took a dramatic turn last week, when in a clumsily worded diplomatic note, apparently sanctioned by the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, against the advice of his in-house legal team according to the Independent newspaper, the British envoy in Quito advised the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry that the UK would refuse any request for safe passage for Mr Assange. He also, reportedly, conveyed a veiled threat in suggesting that the UK’s 1987 Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act (passed principally with the aim of denying murderers and terrorists safe haven) could be invoked to allow for the removal of the diplomatic status of the Embassy under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, thereby permitting the police to enter the building and arrest Mr Assange.
No matter that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office might have only been stating an option open to them even if, as has since been claimed, they did not really mean to take this extreme step. Issuing ultimatums in diplomacy – or even appearing to do so – is not usually a clever move and the reaction of President Correa and his government was one of self-righteous fury. Mr Assange was granted political asylum the next day and the Ecuadorians began to howl their outrage to the world. For the FCO, it was a spectacular own goal and if we might be forgiven the mixing of sporting metaphors, Ecuador’s own diplomatic offensive has put the UK well and truly on the back foot.
ALBA and UNASUR have jumped to Ecuador’s defence and have expressed their solidarity with that country in the face of the perceived threat by the UK to flout international law and violate the integrity of the Ecuadorian Embassy. And the Organization of American States has convened a meeting of Foreign Ministers today to address the situation between Ecuador and the UK regarding the inviolability of the former’s diplomatic premises in London.
The British, already guilty of misjudging the mood in Latin America (and in some Caribbean countries, it must be said) with regard to the Falkland Islands controversy, would appear to have miscalculated once again in their dealings with the region. In addition to the further souring of relations between the UK and some Latin American countries, the focus has shifted away from the debate on whether Ecuador is right to grant Mr Assange asylum to how wrong the UK is in threatening the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, especially in a situation in which national security interests are not at stake.
It matters not either whether one feels strongly that Mr Assange should face the courts to prove his self-proclaimed innocence, for the nature of the alleged crimes is sufficiently serious to warrant a fair hearing for all concerned. The FCO’s heavy-handed approach has only served to reinforce the suspicions of Mr Assange and conspiracy theorists that the Americans are bringing pressure to bear to get their hands on him for leaking their poorly guarded secrets.
All that the British have succeeded in doing is to cede the moral high ground to President Correa and Ecuador, whilst damaging their standing in Latin America and reinforcing the impression of Mr Assange as a modern-day David facing up to the Goliath that is the USA.
