Assange no longer welcome ‘guest’ at Ecuador embassy
BRITAIN: Officials at the Ecuador embassy are seeking a mediator in an attempt to oust Julian Assange from the premises five years after he took refuge there.
Yesterday Maria Fernanda Espinosa, the country’s foreign minister, said she would be seeking a ‘‘third country or a personality’’ to help end the ‘‘untenable’’ situation in central London.
Assange’s stay at the red-brick mansion block close to Harrods began in 2012 after he lost a legal battle against extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual assault.
The founder of Wikileaks lost at every level of the British legal system and then sought refuge at the embassy and was granted political asylum because of his fears he would be extradited to the United States, where he believes he risks torture and detention for espionage and sedition.
Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation into Assange after interviewing him, but he still faces arrest by Scotland Yard for violating the terms of his bail in the British legal case.
‘‘No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the United Kingdom, which has also shown interest in seeking a way out,’’ Espinosa said.
She added that Assange’s situation ‘‘from a human point of view is not sustainable. A person cannot live forever in these conditions and we are searching in a very respectful way with the United Kingdom . . . for a solution.’’
It is the first time Ecuador has proposed mediation to resolve the case, but it has been a poorly kept secret that staff at the embassy, who refer to him as ‘‘the guest’’, have been agitating for an end to the impasse.
The government in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, has asked Assange several times to refrain from declarations or activities that could affect its international relationships, but Assange has made his views known on certain issues, including support for Catalan independence.
Spain said there were signs he was ‘‘trying to interfere in and manipulate’’ the Catalan crisis after he was visited by a proindependence figure.
Assange was granted asylum under President Rafael Correa, who stepped down last year. He is at odds with his successor, Lenin Moreno, and on Tuesday Correa said his asylum was at risk under the new president although Espinosa said that diplomatic protection ‘‘will continue unchanged’’.
She added, however, that his ‘‘physical and psychological integrity are at risk’’ from his extended confinement in the embassy.
Ecuador has dismissed two ambassadors since Assange moved in, largely over their failures to break the deadlock over his presence.