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The case of Julian Assange is a strange one. The Wikileaks founder has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over three years now, hiding out from police that want to deport him to Sweden for an alleged sexual assault; though it is suspected he would then be extradited to the U.S. for crimes related to the whistleblowing site. Lately though he's been rather ill, with a problematic shoulder injury that needs an MRI – but the British government will probably have him arrested if he leaves the embassy.
To clarify, Assange requested safe-passage from the embassy to a local hospital to have the scan and further tests conducted on his shoulder – which is said to be losing mobility. However the British government has denied it, despite the Ecuadorian authorities requesting that it respect its right to grant asylum to the Australian.
Source: Wikimedia
The initial proposal from Assange, sent to the British government at the end of September, said he could be guarded – but unmolested – by as many as 10,000 police officers if needed. He also pledged to only remain at the hospital for a few hours, as per Ars.
The response said that he was more than welcome to leave the embassy, but that the government would not guarantee he would not be arrested. That said, the government did recently pull its 24/7 police presence at the embassy, after spending more than £15 million over the past three years maintaining that force just in-case he stepped outside.
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KitGuru Says: As much as the U.S. government is likely pressuring Cameron and Co. to keep up the watch on Assange, the time and money invested in watching him at this point is simply ridiculous.
I’m pretty sure that would go against EU law for human rights, even POW’s are allowed medical care ! Britain is finished in my view, in fact I noticed it about two decades ago that the country was turning into a corporate whore hole….. much like the rest of the west 🙁 however the UK & US seem to take pride in leading the way to our Orwellian future.
They should just invade and grab him. Let’s be honest, what can Ecuador actually do? Send a strongly worded letter of complaint?
It’s a very difficult situation. As Assange is technically on Equadorian soil, he doesn’t have the right to NHS treatment. He isn’t an ambassador or have ambassadorial status, so he isn’t immune to arrest or prosecution. The various cases against him will stand until they are argued in court, which will never happen while he refuses to defend himself. Invading the embassy isn’t an option as it is completely against UN agreements and simply waiting outside was obviously unjustifiably expensive. EU human rights laws don’t come into it unless he leaves the embassy of his own accord, as Equador isn’t part of the EU.
The ramifications would be international, not everyone can just run around acting like the US.
Taxpayers money at work, watching this guy 24/7 for years on end for his crimes against US foreign interests. If this were just about rape charges that are being “investigated” then they would have stopped caring and dropped it after week 2.
Like what though? Look at what Israel gets away with and realise that ultimately not many people care what you do unless you annex parts of countries or try to build a nuke.