Sweden Won’t Promise Not to Send Assange to US

Says WikiLeaks Founder Should Seek Promise From US

by Jason Ditz, August 21, 2012

Swedish officials, who have in the past termed Julian Assange “public enemy number one” even though he isn’t actually charged with a single crime, have condemned Ecuador for granting him asylum, saying Sweden is a nation of “rule of law” and that it was an insult to keep him from being extradited there.

At the same time, Swedish officials made it clear exactly why the asylum happened in the first place, declining to give any guarantee that it wouldn’t simply ship him to the United States after he was acquired and saying Assange should try to get guarantees from the US if he’s worried about it.

Assange’s lawyers say he has no problem being sent to Sweden for questioning, but didn’t want it to be used as an excuse to capture him and turn him over to the US, where officials have called him a “terrorist” and members of Congress have called for his summary execution.

The Obama Administration has refused to confirm or deny plans to seek Assange’s capture. The State Department has condemned Ecuador for granting Assange asylum, however, and also expressed anger at Ecuador’s call for an emergency OAS meeting after Britain’s Foreign Ministry threatened to invade their embassy, saying that the OAS agenda should focus on “democracy” and not attacks on embassies.

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