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Ecuador to UK: Can We Send Assange to the Hospital?

He risks extradition if he leaves embassy

By Liam Carnahan,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 24, 2012 7:26 AM CDT

(Newser) – Ecuador's London embassy is asking England for safe passage for Julian Assange should he need to go to the hospital. Assange's health has apparently declined since he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in June, but he risks arrest if he leaves the building, reports Reuters. "Assange has grown noticeably thinner, and we are very concerned about his health," says an Ecuadorian diplomat in Moscow.

Britain hasn't said whether it will grant Ecuador's request. "If he falls ill we will have to choose between two alternatives: to treat Assange in the embassy or hospitalize him," says the diplomat. "This is a very serious situation and it can affect Assange's human rights."

FILE - This Aug. 19, 2012 file photo shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange making a statement to the media and supporters at a window of Ecuadorian Embassy in central London.
FILE - This Aug. 19, 2012 file photo shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange making a statement to the media and supporters at a window of Ecuadorian Embassy in central London.   (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
DougMasters
Oct 24, 2012 11:14 AM CDT
'"This is a very serious situation and it can affect Assange's human rights.""   This particular scenario hardly sounds like a rights issue to me.   If his health is the issue, it seems to me that he is able to receive care, he may just receive it while in custody. Ahhhh well, he has that choice.   If the real human rights issue is that he shouldn't be arrested in the first place, then that should be argued.    
SteveDore
Oct 24, 2012 10:39 AM CDT
This can be finessed in some  way.  Make him an Ecuadorian diplomat or something.  The Brit's hearts aren't really in this. He should allow himself to be extradited back to the US.  He has huge support in this country.  Just on this string, Doug and the turtle have called his imprisonment a "witch hunt."  His situation is much more ambiguous than the soldier the Army is holding.  He is very much between a rock and a hard place.  Unless he can somehow get out of the UK, he has no options.  He should roll the dice; go for it.  One thing is for sure; if he comes to the States, he will have no trouble raising money for a defense.
Lexxz
Oct 24, 2012 10:30 AM CDT
He is a fugitive that jump bail and fled to a foreign territory, Ecuadoran embassy, to avoid apprehension.

 
United Kingdom • embassy • Ecuador • Julian Assange • Julian Assange extradition

 
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