No easy exit for Assange holed up in embassy

Reuters/London

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gather outside Ecuador’s embassy in central London yesterday

Julian Assange risks being thrown into a cell the moment he leaves the Ecuadorean embassy in London after breaching bail to avoid extradition to Sweden. The Australian former computer hacker, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret US diplomatic cables, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex crime allegations.He says he fears he could be bundled to the US where his life would be at risk.News crews and a dozen supporters bearing “Free Assange” placards gathered outside the embassy, a five-storey red-brick building in the upmarket district of Knightsbridge where Assange sought refuge on Tuesday.There was no sighting of Assange, whose distinctive white-blond hair has helped make him instantly recognisable around the world. A reporter from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit organisation based at London’s City University, was permitted inside to see Assange and said he was in good spirits.Ecuador said Assange had expressed fears that if sent to Sweden he would be extradited onwards to the US where he believes he could face criminal charges punishable by death. “I genuinely believe, and I know him well, that he fears for his life,” said Vaughan Smith, who hosted Assange at his country mansion for 13 months after the Australian was freed on bail in December 2010.By diplomatic convention, British police cannot enter the embassy without authorisation from Ecuador. But even if Quito granted him asylum, he has no way of travelling to Ecuador without passing through London and exposing himself to arrest.“He has breached one of his bail conditions which was to be at his bail address between 10pm and 8am every day ... He is subject to arrest under the Bail Act,” said a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police.Legal experts said it was unclear what would happen to a £240,000 deposit provided by Assange’s supporters, including a number of celebrities, to secure his bail.Asked via Twitter by the Guardian newspaper whether she was on the hook, socialite Jemima Khan tweeted back: “Yes. I had expected him to face the allegations. I am as surprised as anyone by this.”Khan declined to say how much she had paid. Assange, whose unpredictable behaviour and love of the limelight have cost him the support of some former friends and colleagues, lost a long-running legal battle last week to avoid extradition from Britain to Sweden. His 11th-hour decision to seek refuge in the embassy was more reminiscent of Cold War espionage dramas than the British legal process. The dramatic move drew widespread criticism. “He is asking for protection of freedom of expression for journalists, but he is asking for asylum in a country that is basically censoring newspapers,” Frank La Rue, UN special investigator for freedom of expression, said.