Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, denied asylum in France

Mr Assange took part in an interview with the French television channel TF1 in late June

France has rejected an apparent appeal by the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to grant him asylum.

Prosecutors in Sweden want to question Mr Assange over sex assault claims.

The 44-year-old Australian denies the allegations. He has been living at Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012.

On Friday, France’s Le Monde newspaper published an open letter Mr Assange had written to President Francois Hollande asking for asylum. However, his lawyers later said he had never sought it.

In the letter, Mr Assange wrote: “By welcoming me, France would carry out a humanitarian and symbolic gesture, sending encouragement to every journalist and whistleblower.”

He also said his life was in danger.

A statement from Mr Hollande’s office said it had reviewed the request and decided not to grant Mr Assange asylum.

“The situation of Mr Assange does not present any immediate danger,” the statement said. “Furthermore, he is subject to a European arrest warrant.”

Following the letter’s publication, Wikileaks tweeted that Mr Assange “did not submit an asylum application to France. He published an open letter in Le Monde to Hollande and the public.”

The legal team added that he was only responding to an invitation by French civil rights activists – backed by Justice Minister Christiane Taubira – to visit France.

Mr Assange – a journalist and activist – has not been formally charged, but prosecutors want to question him over allegations of rape and sexual misconduct made by two women he met during a trip to Sweden in August 2010.

He claims the allegations are part of a plot to extradite him to the US because of Wikileaks’ publication of thousands of classified US documents earlier in 2010.

But the former computer hacker has not been charged with any crime in the US and the Americans have not issued the UK with an extradition request.

Ecuador offered Mr Assange asylum in August 2012, shortly after he sought refuge at the country’s embassy in London.

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Source: BBC

11 Responses to Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, denied asylum in France

  1. jackschitt July 4, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    This should be no surprise since he was denied asylum in every other country anyway. Even if he were granted asylum, he’d still be stuck in the Ecuador embassy since the second he steps foot out of there he’s going to be locked up. How the hell would he get there?

    Reply
    • The Truth July 4, 2015 at 2:56 pm

      Diplomatic vehicles are considered sovereign, just as embassy estates. If the car parks on embassy land, drives to the airport, and parks directly next to the privately-chartered aircraft for use by said diplomats, there’s nothing the UK could really do about it.

      Whether ATC in a “hostile” nation try and re-route the aircraft like they did with the Bolivian President’s plane is another thing entirely.

      Reply
      • Brayne July 4, 2015 at 3:03 pm

        It’s not quite that simple, there are limitations to diplomatic immunity, especially if the host government has enough incentive to hurt diplomatic relations.

        Reply
        • jackschitt July 4, 2015 at 3:18 pm

          What is the UK’s incentive?

          Reply
          • The Truth July 4, 2015 at 3:32 pm

            Keep the USA happy, help Wikileaks go down (they have their share of humiliation from them)…probably other elements I don’t know about.

  2. Daniel Blaney July 4, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    Right, but as I understand it, Ecuador’s embassy is basically one apartment/condo/whatever inside a larger building, and the building’s hallway is not embassy territory. There would be no way to get Assange out of the embassy and into a diplomatic vehicle without stepping on UK soil, where he becomes fair game.
    If there were a way to get Assange into a diplomatic vehicle, he’d have been in Ecuador years ago.

    Reply
  3. Destiny Amberst July 4, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    A diplomatic bag can only contain items for official government use. While a diplomatic bag is not subject to invasive search/seizure, it is subject to non-invasive search/seizure (say, a metal detector or thermal scanner). If something like a thermal scanner detects a human being in the diplomatic bag, it is no longer a diplomatic bag since it is not being used for transport of official documents.

    Even without the use of non-invasive techniques, the host country can simply use delaying tactics until such time as Assange simply runs out of air or makes any kind of motion indicating that there is a living being inside the box. Once it’s discovered that he’s in there, it’s no longer a diplomatic bag and Assange can be arrested on the spot.

    As I said in my previous post, if there were any way to get him out of that embassy, he’d have been in Ecuador years ago. The same issues preventing him from getting to Ecuador would also prevent him from getting to France. Given his current situation, he could be granted asylum on Mars for all the good it would do him.

    Reply
  4. Suzie July 4, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    Assange didn’t formally ask for asylum in France, what happened is that a lot of french citizen voiced their support, including celebrities and the minister of justice who said that she wouldn’t be shocked if France decided to grant asylum to Assange and Snowden. In response to that, Assange published an open letter thanking those people for their support, his appreciation of France, that welcoming him would be a humanitarian gesture and that he would accept such an offer. The french government’s answer was that they read his appeal but that they don’t believe he’s in any immediate danger and that there is a european arrest warrent issued against him.

    Reply
  5. tom cruise July 4, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    There are countries outside of Europe too, ya know. Why don’t he ask them?

    Maybe having asylum in Latin America might not be as fun as living in France, but it’s better than being extradited to the US.

    Reply
    • The Truth July 4, 2015 at 4:03 pm

      Glenn Greenwald seems quite happy in Brazil.

      Reply
  6. Donell McGriff July 4, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    For me Julian Assange, is quite possibly a rapist and should face charges. He also is not, in my opinion, a nice person, he’s egoistic etc etc, but not necessarily criminal. Equally, he’s done good things with Wikileaks which I support. So it’s grey for me. He’s a douche and he might be a racist prick but he’s also done good things, although not things I’d call particularly heroic.

    Reply

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