Ecuador an odd choice for Assange

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange has sought asylum in a country notorious for crackdowns on free speech. Brian Braiker reports.

Julian Assange has defied his bail conditions by taking refuge at the Ecuador embassy in London. (Reuters)

Julian Assange may not have had many options when he was considering where to seek asylum, but still, Ecuador is a far from obvious choice. He faces extradition to Sweden for questioning over alleged sex crimes after Britains top court said last week that it had rejected a legal request to reconsider his case.

Assange was on bail and living with friends before his extradition.

Assange interviewed the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, on the Russia Today TV channel last month. During their exchange, the Australian explained that he had been under house arrest in England for 500 days and elicited sympathy from the left-wing populist leader.

But Ecuador, a country with a tenuous respect for international human rights law, is a counterintuitive refuge for the free-speech and transparency crusader.

Ecuadors justice system and record on free speech have been called into question by Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International.

Poorest record of free speech It is ironic that you have a journalist, or an activist, seeking political asylum from a government that has after Cuba the poorest record of free speech in the region and the practice of persecuting local journalists when the government is upset by their opinions or their research, said Jos Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watchs Americas division.

He pointed out that in April 2011 Ecuador expelled the US ambassador, Heather Hodges, over diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks alleging widespread corruption in the Ecuadorian police. Maybe Assange feels President Correa owes something to him.

Still, the fact remains that free-speech watchdogs are quick to tick off a laundry list of Ecuadors breaches. In a referendum held in May 2011, President Rafael Correa obtained a popular mandate for constitutional reforms that could significantly increase government powers to constrain the media and influence the appointment and dismissal of judges, Human Rights Watch wrote in its 2011 Ecuador report.

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Ecuador an odd choice for Assange