Julian Assange’s third anniversary in the embassy of Ecuador

Statement by Ecuadorian Embassy, London

19 June 2015 marks three years since Mr. Assange, an Australian citizen, entered the embassy of Ecuador in London. He was granted political asylum under the 1951 Refugee Convention due the ongoing espionage case against him in the United States. Mr. Assange risks extradition to the US from both the UK and Sweden.

Mr. Assange has been detained–without charge–in prison, under house arrest and in the embassy for nearly five years. He has not seen the sun in three years as the embassy has no outdoor area. His rights have been severely abused, as have the rights of his young family. Fifty nine legal and
civil rights organizations have complained to the United Nations about his treatment in the last year alone. Read

The UN will shortly issue a finding as to whether Mr. Assange’s situation formally amounts to “arbitrary detention”–which is unlawful under any circumstances Read. A number of criminal cases have been filed in Europe (including in Denmark, Germany and Sweden) in response to illicit state action against him by the US government and its allies including the use of unlawful surveillance and the payment of cash bribes to illegally obtain evidence. Read. Read.

Both the UK and Sweden refuse to provide legal or diplomatic assurances not to extradite Mr. Assange to the US (in violation of their obligations under the Refugee Convention), despite repeated requests by Ecuador and NGOs, including Amnesty International.

Until Mr. Assange’s right to effective protection from extradition to the US is recognised, he will continue to endure prolonged and arbitrary detention, a legally uncertain and precarious situation. This situation should not be tolerated or, worse still, abetted by any State which subscribes to the most basic human rights protections.

Mr. Assange has been the subject of severe restrictions on his liberty (in prison, under house arrest, and in the embassy) since 7 December 2010. His passport was seized the same day.

More than five years ago, in February 2010, the US commenced its ongoing ‘espionage’ investigation into Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks . The case has been described in diplomatic cables as “unprecedented in scale and nature” Read and is widely regarded to be the largest ever investigation of a publisher in US history. The FBI file alone is known to run to more than 42,135 pages. Read

Warrants issued to Google, which were revealed late last year, show that the US is seeking to prosecute Mr. Assange under the following criminal laws for his work as editor of WikiLeaks:

• Espionage: 18 U.S.C. § 793(d)
• Conspiracy to commit espionage: 18 U.S.C. § 793(g)
• The theft or conversion of property belonging to the United States government: 18
U.S.C. § 641
• Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: 18 U.S.C. § 1030
• Conspiracy: 18 U.S.C. § 371

The Swedish investigation was initiated six months after the US investigation commenced but has remained at the ‘preliminary investigation’ phase ever since that time. The prosecutor still has not made a decision as to whether to charge him, but also refuses to disclose to the courts key
exculpatory evidence to enable Mr. Assange to properly challenge the basis of his ongoing detention. This evidence includes SMS messages between the two complainants, which state the allegations were “made up” by the police who were “trying to get” Mr. Assange. Another statement in the police report by one of the women said that she was “railroaded” by police and others. Read Both women state they had no intent to bring a case.

Sweden has granted every US extradition request for at least the past 15 years. Sweden has also been complicit in CIA renditions (Agiza and Alzery cases) and has recently cooperated with the United States to build terrorism cases against two of its own citizens who were renditioned from Djibouti to the United States Read. Apart from the Swedish risk, there remains an extant risk that the UK authorities would extradite Mr. Assange if he were to leave the Embassy. The UK refuses to confirm or deny whether it has received a US extradition request for Mr. Assange. Even if the Swedish case is dropped, the UK has stated publicly that they will arrest Mr. Arrange when he leaves the embassy.

As there are no formal criminal charges against him, Mr. Assange has not been able to exercise the rights of a defendant.

The legal basis for Mr. Assange’s extradition from the UK has completely vanished since the split Supreme Court decision in 2012. In response to the injustice of his and similar cases, the UK Parliament in July 2014 decided to ban future attempts to extradite persons from the UK without charge, however the UK executive says that it would be ‘retrospective’ to apply the change in law to Mr. Assange.

The known cost of police surveillance of Mr. Assange is now more than £11.4 million (over $17.8 million USD: see here). The UK government refuses, on “national security” grounds, to provide a breakdown of these costs. Read

Mr. Assange has no access to fresh air or sunlight because the embassy premises do not have an outdoor area. UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners requires minimum one hour of exercise outdoors each day. Read
Ecuador has requested that Mr. Assange be permitted outdoor exercise without risking his political asylum, but the UK has refused.