The curious case of charges against Australian Julian Assange is about to take a new twist. In a public statement he has indicated that he will shortly emerge from London's Ecuadorian embassy where he has sheltered under political asylum for the past two years.
Assange was the brain behind Wikileaks. Western governments were embarrassed when Wikileaks released confidential cables and dialogue that it had hacked - and which was often labelled " top secret ". In particular, the United States seemed determined to drag Assange before an American court on espionage charges and if convicted he would serve a life sentence in a US prison.
The Swedish government joined in the fray when a judge demanded Assange appear personally before his court to answer questions related to a sexual liaison he had with two Swedish women. Assange feared that this was an attempt to get him onto Swedish soil, where he would be served with an American warrant and extradited to the United States. When he ignored this demand Interpol issued an International arrest warrant and a long legal fight ensured in British courts. Assange lost this battle - and sought sanctuary in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Britain appears to be bending it's rules that apply to diplomatic immunity in it's dealings with Ecuador. A solid wall of British " Bobbies " surrounds the embassy and it has been made clear that Assange will be instantly arrested the moment he stands clear of the premises. The Ecuadorians have sought permission to transfer him to their country - and this has been refused.
It has long been the contention that embassy cars and embassy aircraft enjoy the same diplomatic status as the land on which an embassy stands - and many will hark back to 1984 when a similar situation occurred at the Libyan London embassy. Someone inside the embassy fired a shot which killed British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher who was acting as a crowd marshal to contain protesters outside the embassy.
The British government refused to allow the Libyans to leave until they surrendered the shooter - and this led to a siege. Eventually, protocol allowed the entire number of people within the embassy at that time to travel by embassy cars to the airport and board an embassy plane - and leave the country. That is exactly the protocol which has been refused in the Assange Ecuadorian case.
If Assange leaves the embassy and is arrested it will make world headlines. Another revealer of state secrets is being sheltered in Moscow and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since Wikileaks went public with confidential American secrets. Public sentiment has changed - and spying by western governments has been revealed in all it's glory.
Assange is taking a big risk, but obviously he can not remain locked within a London embassy forever. If he is arrested, taken to Sweden and then deported to America he may attract a huge surge of worldwide sympathy - and that may make the Americans hold their hand and do nothing. If that is not the case - he is simply exchanging one prison for another !
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