Sexual crime allegations brought against Assange have angered many in Sweden, who say the stories of two women accusing him of unlawful coercion and sexual molestation have played second fiddle to unwarranted theories of a US-led conspiracy to extradite him with the help of allies in Europe.

The lawyer for the two Swedish women, Claes Borgstrom, stood by the allegations and criticised Assange for not coming back to be questioned. “It’s an abuse of the asylum instrument, the purpose of which is to protect people from persecution and torture … It’s not about that here”, Borgstrom told Reuters news agency.

Asylum found at Ecuador’s embassy in London

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, who granted Assange political asylum earlier this month, has said that Assange is welcome to stay in the London embassy indefinitely, but the UK has pledged not to allow Assange to leave the country.

Assange made an appearance on a balcony of the embassy, in London’s Knightsbridge district, before an audience of activists and a heavy police presence lining the streets. He called on the US to end what he called its “witch-hunt” against him.

The British government has said that it will not raid Ecuador’s embassy, though police are stationed both outside and inside the building that houses the embassy offices. “We will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the UK, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so. The UK does not accept the principle of diplomatic asylum”, William Hague, British foreign secretary, said in a statement on 15 August. “It is far from a universally accepted concept: the United Kingdom is not a party to any legal instruments which require us to recognise the grant of diplomatic asylum by a foreign embassy in this country”.

“Despite that rude, impertinent and unacceptable remark, we’re still open to dialogue”, President Correa said, referring to a statement issued by William Hague, UK foreign secretary, last week. “We don’t expect an apology, but of course we expect Britain to retract the extremely serious mistake they made when they issued the threat that they could violate our diplomatic mission to arrest Mr Julian Assange”.

Britain unwilling to comply with international law

Ricardo Patino, Ecuadorian foreign minister, responded to Hague’s statement by saying that such a move would be a “flagrant violation” of international law. It is not possible for British authorities to enter the Ecuadorian embassy under the terms of international law. Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations states that the premises of a diplomatic mission are “inviolable” and agents of a state “may not enter them to perform law enforcement [or other] functions without the consent of the head of the diplomatic mission”.

Assange has said he believes he will eventually be sent to the US to face an unfair espionage prosecution arising from WikiLeaks’s release of hundreds of thousands of secret US government documents.

However, Bob Carr, Australia’s foreign minister, said that Assange was unlikely to be extradited from Sweden to the US if there was a risk of the death penalty or a military court.

Correa, for his part, has rallied support for his decision among fellow left-leaning Latin American nations and has characterised the diplomatic row with the UK as a confrontation with an “imperialist” and “colonial” power. Though Correa has fought with privately owned media outlets in his own country, hundreds of people rallied in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, earlier this week to support Assange’s asylum bid, saying it was crucial to protect free speech. 

Ecuadorians rally behind Assange

Hundreds of Ecuadorians have marched in support of their government’s decision to grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum. Ecuador has expressed outrage at the British government’s suggestion, later withdrawn, that police could enter the country’s London embassy, where Assange has taken refuge, to seize him.

“We’re here to support the timely and correct decision to grant asylum to Julian Assange and also to reject the hostile reaction of Great Britain in cahoots with United States”, said Betty Wanda, a 28-year-old lawyer among a crowd outside the presidential palace in Quito. Many at the rally on Monday wore multi-coloured bandannas with images of Assange and the message: “Without real freedom of expression, there will not be sovereignty”. “I back the president 100 per cent because I believe that there’s freedom of expression in Ecuador. But there must also be freedom of expression at the international level and a journalist that has had as much significance as Assange must not be censored”, Christian Cuchi, 27, said. There have been small protests outside the British embassy in Quito, and graffiti has sprung up showing support for Correa.

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