UK has provided ‘guarantees’ Assange won’t be extradited to face death penalty – Ecuador’s president
6 Dec, 2018
Britain has provided enough guarantees that Julian Assange will not be extradited to any country where he would face the death penalty if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy in London, according to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno.
Speaking during a radio interview on Thursday, Moreno said his administration has received written assurances that the UK will not extradite Assange to any nation where he will face the death penalty.
That has long been a concern for Assange and those advocating for him, as he could potentially face the death penalty if extradited to the US for his leak of a huge trove of diplomatic cables in 2010. He faces charges of espionage, conspiracy, theft of government property, and computer fraud in the US, and Donald Trump’s administration has stated that the Wikileaks founder’s arrest is a top priority.
Moreno didn’t say that his country would force Assange out of the embassy, but said the Wikileaks founder’s legal team is considering its next steps.
“There is a path for Mr. Assange to take the decision to exit into near freedom,” Moreno said in the local radio interview, while noting that the whistleblower still faces jail time in the UK for violating bail terms when he sought asylum to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning in a sexual assault investigation.
Read more at https://www.rt.com
Julian Assange rejects UK-Ecuador deal for him to leave the embassy
6 December 2018
Julian Assange’s lawyer has rejected an agreement announced by Ecuador’s president to see him leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London, after six years inside.
Lenin Moreno, the president of Ecuador, has made no secret of his wish to be rid of the WikiLeaks founder, who sought asylum inside the embassy in June 2012 and has not left since.
On Thursday Mr Moreno announced that a deal had been reached between London and Quito to allow Mr Assange, 47, to be released.
“The way has been cleared for Mr Assange to take the decision to leave in near-liberty,” said Mr Moreno.
He did not specify what “near liberty” meant.
