Julian Assange: UK rejects death penalty claim

Mr Assange has been at Ecuador's London embassy since June

Claims Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could face the death penalty in the US are "without foundation", Foreign Secretary William Hague has indicated.

Ecuador has granted Mr Assange asylum as he fights extradition from the UK to Sweden over sex assault allegations.

Mr Hague told MPs the UK and Sweden would seek assurances about his human rights if a "third country" sought to try him for disclosing documents.

He called for further meetings with Ecuador to resolve the row.

Mr Assange, a 41-year-old Australian citizen, denies assaulting 2 women in Stockholm in 2010 and says the sex was consensual.

Death penalty safeguards

Swedish prosecutors, who want to question Mr Assange, have dismissed his claims that their case is part of a wider political move to see him stand trial in the US over his work with Wikileaks.

Mr Assange has said he fears he could face the death penalty if convicted in the US, but BBC correspondents say the Human Rights Act prevents the UK or Sweden from being able to extradite people for trial in countries where they could face such a sentence.

And in a written statement to Parliament, Mr Hague said: "As we have discussed with the government of Ecuador, the United Kingdom and Sweden robustly implement and adhere to the highest standards of human rights protection.

"The suggestion that Mr Assange's human rights would be put at risk by the possibility of onward extradition from Sweden to a third country is also without foundation.

"In practice, this means that the United Kingdom could only consent to Mr Assange's onward extradition from Sweden to a third country if satisfied that extradition would be compatible with his human rights, and that there was no prospect of a death sentence being imposed or carried out."

Supreme Court rejection

Mr Assange has been staying at Ecuador's London embassy since June.

The UK Supreme Court dismissed his bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period - during which he entered the embassy in Knightsbridge, west London - before proceedings could start.

Mr Hague said suggestions that extradition to Sweden posed a risk to Assange's human rights were also "completely unfounded" and had been "comprehensively rejected" by UK courts.

He added there was "no legal basis" for the government to accept Ecuador's decision to grant Mr Assange asylum and allow him safe passage out of the UK.

The foreign secretary said there had been 7 formal discussions as well as many other conversations and written exchanges with Ecuador in an attempt to reach an acceptable resolution.

Most recently, Mr Hague had a meeting with Ecuador's Vice-President, Lenin Moreno, on 29 August in London, during his visit to the Paralympics.

Mr Hague said: "We wish to continue our dialogue with the government of Ecuador. We believe that our two countries should be able to find a diplomatic solution.

"We have invited the government of Ecuador to resume, as early as possible, the discussions we have held on this matter to date."

A spokesman for the Ecuadorian government in London said Mr Hague's statement only partially addressed its concerns and did not "specifically" refer to the US.

"While we accept that there are provisions in the European Human Rights Convention that stops the extradition of a suspect if they face the death penalty, what the UK government have failed to address over the last 3 months, including today, is the inhumane treatment that Mr Assange would face were he to be extradited to the USA, including solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, limited access to legal representatives and punitive sentencing should he be found guilty in a military of special court," he said.

"If the UK provided these basic human rights guarantees then we believe that there would be a quick, fair and honourable solution to the present impasse."

Source: BBC News, Sept. 4, 2012

Sweden: If Assange faces death row in US we won’t extradite him

The Swedish government will not extradite Assange to the US should he face the death penalty there, as any possible extradition request from Washington is then subject to strict conditions, an official from the country’s Justice Ministry declared.

­“We will never surrender a person to the death penalty,” the deputy director of the Service for Criminal Cases and International Cooperation of Sweden’s Justice Ministry said in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper on Tuesday.

This means there should be strict guarantees from the US government that “the prisoner will not be executed in any case,” added Cecilia Riddselius. But, she added, so far her country has not received any extradition request from Washington.

In June, Cecilia Riddselius admitted there were opportunities for countries to request different types of guarantees in relation to extradition. Sweden may request that an extradited person will not be sentenced to the death penalty, he or she will not be tortured, should not be prosecuted for offences other than those which he or she was delivered for and not to be charged before a special court.

However, Riddselius then stressed, Sweden cannot guarantee in advance that Assange will not be extradited.

The WikiLeaks founder is wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual misconduct. He and his supporters, however, fear that if extradited to Sweden, he may be further extradited to the United States, where he could then face the death penalty for espionage following the publication of thousands of classified documents, including secret cables of the US State Department.

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Source: rt.com, August 21, 2012

Assange's mother fears death penalty for him in US

QUITO — The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is lobbying Ecuador to grant him asylum, says she is worried her son could face execution if extradited to the United States.

Christine Assange met Wednesday with President Rafael Correa, who is considering whether to grant political asylum to Assange.

The Australian campaigner took refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London in mid-June to avoid extradition to Sweden.

Swedish investigators want Assange to answer questions about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women in August 2010 after WikiLeaks began releasing classified US documents.

"I feel as a mother that he is not capable of the charges -- not even the charges, the allegations against him," his mother said in an interview with AFP at the Carondelet presidential palace after she met with Correa.

"There is absolutely no doubt that this is a political persecution, by the Swedish prosecutors and the police, with interference of the government," she said.

Christine Assange echoed her son's fears that Sweden would extradite him to the United States to face charges for releasing masses of US military and diplomatic documents into the public domain.

"The US government feels that it can seek to try my son for espionage, and possibly executing him simply for doing the job of a good investigative journalist, which is telling the truth about power," she said.

The United States has opened a criminal investigation into the leaks and is prosecuting US army private Bradley Manning in a military court. But it has not said whether it intends to bring charges against Assange as well.

Assange's mother declined to discuss the substance of her conversation with Correa, but she is counting on his sympathy.

"The president, and his ministers, are very knowledgeable intelligent and compassionate people, genuinely so, and they have a good understanding of the case," she said.

"It's not a secret that the president and his foreign minister believe this case to be political," she added.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino has said that Ecuador will respond to Assange's request on August 12, after the London Olympics.

"The important thing is for Julian to be assured that Ecuador is considering his request with great responsibility," Correa told Assange's mother during their hour-long meeting.

Correa said his country has a "great humanist tradition and respect for human rights."

He added that he respects Britain, Sweden, and the people of the United States, and that the matter bears consultation, but that, ultimately, "Ecuador does not negotiate over its sovereignty."

Source: Agence France-Presse, August 2, 2012

Ecuador: Indian town drops death penalty in murder case

An Indian community that sentenced a young man to death by hanging for the murder of another man softened his punishment Sunday, ordering him to do five years of community service instead.

Orlando Quishpe, 21, was also subjected to punishments that included carrying a heavy sack of dirt, an ice-water bath and a public whipping with a thorny plant while he was forced to beg forgiveness.

Ecuador's attorney general had threatened legal action against the community after it ordered Quishpe's execution last week, because the South American nation does not allow the death penalty.

The Indians refused the government's request that the suspect be handed over to the regular courts. Ecuador's constitution recognizes indigenous justice as long as it does not violate the charter or human rights.

An assembly of residents in La Cocha, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) from the capital, debated for 6 hours Sunday and dropped the death penalty.

They decided Quishpe will carry out "5 years of work in the field," community leader Ricardo Chaluisa told reporters. He said the work would be supervised by members of Quishpe's home community, Guantopolo.

Before he was turned over to leaders from Guantopolo, Quishpe, who works as a carpenter and is in a rock band, underwent a day of punishment.

Nearly naked, he first was made to hold a sack of dirt for 10 minutes. Tied to a whipping post, he was doused in an icy bath and beaten with nettles while he apologized to the townspeople – although he denied any guilt in the slaying of Marco Olivo, 21.

Olivo was beaten and then hanged with a belt on May 9. Town leaders accused Quishpe of using his belt in the killing. No motive for the attack has been released.

4 other young men underwent a day of punishment for the crime a week ago. The community said they confessed to participating in the attack.

Source: Associated Press, May 29, 2010