Julian Assange addresses crowd outside Ecuador

Embassy in London, Aug. 19.

VIDEO: Watch address by Julian Assange, July 19.

Ecuador's Embassy - and All Embassies - are Off Limits to British Police (Hoy, Ecuador)

"The Vienna Convention explicitly states that police and local security forces cannot enter a diplomatic mission without authorization from the head of the mission. ... It is also to be hoped that the human rights and freedom of speech that the Ecuador government is invoking with respect to asylum matters, will without restriction be just as assiduously respected in this country."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Marisol Plata Fortiz

August 19, 2012

Ecuador - La Hora - Original Article (Spanish)

One of the demonstrators gathering outside the Guatemala Embassy in London, Aug. 19. BBC NEWS AUDIO: Arresting Julian Assange in Ecuador London Embassy would be 'uncharted territory', Aug. 13, 00:05:284

Before announcing the government's decision to grant diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño rejected Great Britains threat of revoking the diplomatic status of the Embassy of Ecuador in London, which would allow police to access the building. The rejection is a just one, as it is in defense of the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic missions and grounds.

Posted by Worldmeets.US

There is no point invoking domestic law, as Great Britain has done, as a way of arguing for an eventual right to enter the Embassy of Ecuador in that country. The Vienna Convention explicitly states that police and local security forces cannot enter a diplomatic mission without authorization from the head of the mission.

It is therefore unacceptable to wave around a domestic regulation the application of which would infringe on a principle enshrined not only by legal tradition, but by international treaty: that of the inviolability of diplomatic missions and their grounds.

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The granting of asylum to Assange was widely expected, as was the British refusal to grant safe conduct. One can point out inconsistencies and weaknesses in certain accusations against Great Britain, Sweden and the United States in the 11 points highlighted by Foreign Minister Patiño for having granted asylum to Assange. The fact that Assange is a victim of political persecution can certainly be debated, given that Swedish justice demands he be extradited to answer for alleged sex crimes. But it must also be noted that that under the institution of asylum, it is the prerogative of the asylum-granting country to decide the issue. This is justified by the very nature of the institution of asylum.

Great Britains refusal to grant safe conduct generates an impasse that will be difficult to resolve, the consequences of which for this country should have been evaluated responsibly by the Ecuadorian government .

It is to be hoped that the human rights and freedom of speech that the government is invoking with respect to asylum matters, will without restriction be just as assiduously respected in this country.

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