Ecuador will care for Julian Assange in embassy if WikiLeaks founder falls ill

[struggle4progress]

Ecuador prepared to set up operating theatre in London embassy if necessary, says foreign minister
Julian Borger in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 28 September 2012 13.04 EDT

Ecuador is prepared to set up an operating theatre in its London embassy if Julian Assange needs urgent medical attention and the UK is not prepared to guarantee his safe passage to a hospital and back, according to the Ecuadorean foreign minister ...

Hague told Ricardo Patino that he would consult officials and lawyers and respond within a few days, but a British official commented: "Maybe the Ecuadoreans should have thought of that before they granted him asylum." The official added that British police were under obligation to arrest Assange as soon as he stepped out of the embassy.

"One thing we have proposed is to have an ambulance parked outside," Patino told the Guardian in an interview in New York. "What we have said, if such a case should happen, we should be ready to install an operating theatre inside the premises, unless Mr Hague responds, as he promised in the next few days, that he <Assange> would be able to go to a hospital."

The Ecuadorean foreign minister said that the Australian government had offered to help organise Assange's healthcare during an indefinite stay in an embassy apartment, given the diplomatic impasse over his fate. Ecuador offered him asylum last month, saying he faced political persecution in the US, but the UK insists it has a legal duty to arrest him and extradite him to Sweden to face questioning. Australian officials have not confirmed Patino's claim that Canberra had offered medical help ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/sep/28/ecuador-julian-assange-embassy-wikileaks?newsfeed=true

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Good for them. I hope it won't be necessary.

Of course, the Brits could just let him go to Ecuador...but that would be too simple and too humanitarian and piss-off their bosses in D.C.

[pnwmom]

2. It wouldn't be "humanitarian" as far as the two women who have accused him of rape are concerned.

If the worst happens, let him go to a hospital to be treated -- under arrest. The extradition can wait till he's fully ready to travel.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Obviously, the government of Ecuador doesn't share your view.

Nor, do I.

[pnwmom]

4. The government of Ecuador isn't known for its enlightened views on rape. And the President

of Ecuador has already revealed his misogyny.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193775/Rafael-Correa-President-Ecuador-claims-sharing-bed-lead-rape-defends-Julian-Assange.html

The president of Ecuador has dismissed the allegations against Julian Assange by claiming that a man who shares a bed with a woman cannot be accused of rape.
Rafael Correa said the accusations would not be considered crimes in '90 to 95 per cent of the planet' and questioned the behaviour and motives of the alleged victims.


SNIP

Asked how allegedly using force during sex could not be a crime, the Left-wing president reportedly answered: 'A woman he was staying with? Sleeping together in the same bed? Let's pass on this and leave it to the Swedish justice system.

'But not to use a condom in an act between a couple, this is not a crime in Latin America.'