USD 1.7

Baku 23 °C

Paid news

AZ RU EN FA FR

Dark mode

POLITICS

NEWS

World

Economics

Sport

Culture news

Analysis

Blogs

Company

TOP 10

© 2004 - 2026 All copyright are reserved.

Americas

Home page

Americas

Ecuadorian president defends decision to offer Assange asylum

18 August 2012 04:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Friday defended his country’s "sovereign" decision to grant Wikileaks founder Julian Assange political asylum, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"After almost two months of analyzing the legal process, the government decided to grant him asylum," Correa told a local television in his first public statement after the decision was made Thursday.

Correa said political asylum was given to the 41-year-old Australian, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden for allegations of rape and sexual assault, as Stockholm never guaranteed that Assange would not be handed over to a third country.

"Sweden never gave that guarantee, England never gave it," he said.

He added that Assange risked life in prison if extradited to the United States, which was preparing prosecution against Wikileaks’ activities.

The move is "loyal to the country’s tradition of protecting the people who seek shelter in its territory or in their embassies," Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Thursday.

The U.S. government on Friday refused to recognize the diplomatic asylum that Ecuador granted to Assange as the Organization of American States (OAS) is considering convening a meeting on the issue.

"The United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a statement.

According to the OAS website, the organization is considering convening a foreign ministerial meeting on Aug. 23 in Washington on the issue which has triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.

Washington has been furious about Assange’s WikiLeaks which in the 2010 disclosed tens of thousands of U.S. war documents related to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the diplomatic cables.

Dark mode

POLITICS

NEWS

World

Economics

Sport

Culture news

Analysis

Blogs

Company

TOP 10

© 2004 - 2026 All copyright are reserved.

Americas

Ecuadorian president defends decision to offer Assange asylum

Americas

33 people rescued, thousands still missing after Venezuela quakes

Venezuela quake death toll rises to 1,430

Trump threatens more military action against Iran if strikes continue

UN: Venezuela earthquake could affect more than 6.7 million people

NEWS FEED

ATTENTION!

ATTENTION!

ATTENTION!