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Were the Brits kidding by threatening to storm the Ecuadorian embassy
after Ecuador granted asylum to Julian Assange or were they just
kidding?
It seems that they were dead serious and they even claim to be still
keeping that option on the table, though The Guardian thinks they've
backtracked.
On Wednesday, the British government issued the following
"unprecedented" threat to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London:
"You need to be aware that there is a legal base in the UK, the
Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, that would allow us to take
actions in order to arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the
embassy. We sincerely hope that we do not reach that point, but if you
are not capable of resolving this matter of Mr Assange's presence in
your premises, this is an open option for us."
Nice!
Had China followed this line of reasoning, the blind activist lawyer
Chen Guangcheng would be rotting today in a Chinese prison.
Talking of China, this kind of threat will never be directed at a
Chinese embassy. Only to the embassy of a tiny third world country
like Ecuador.
What's more, the 1987 act the British government is referring to only
pertains to extreme cases.
Extreme cases like the shootout at the London Libyan embassy on April
17, 1984, or the attempted kidnapping in London of Umaru Diko on July
5 by the Nigerian government agents who drugged him and put him in a
diplomatic bag!
By the way, it was both of these extreme acts of banditry in the
premises of embassies that led to the enactement of the Diplomatic and
Consular Premises Act of 1987.
At any rate, Rafael Correa was unfazed by the diplomatically unbecoming insult.
Correa went ahead and granted Assange political asylum, basically
telling David Cameron: Shove it, mate!
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PHOTO CREDITS: Via: borev.net
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