Swedish foreign office is now weighing in against Ecuador

Thursday, 16 August 2012
The Swedish foreign office has reacted angrily to Ecuador's granting of political asylum to Julian Assange and calls the action of Ecuador "unacceptable".

In his statement to Ecuador  in  reaction to the asylum to Mr. Assange,  directed to the Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino, the Swedish foreign minister's reaction was  fierce.

"This is an unacceptable attempt by Ecuador to stop the Swedish legal process," says the Foreign Ministry's press officer, Anders Jörle.
Ricardo Patino said on Thursday afternoon that Sweden has repeatedly been asked to ensure that Mr Assange would not be extradited to the United States. Ecuador has also asked Sweden to ensure that the matter be handled by a rule of law consistent with Ecuadorian law.

"The Swedish authorities have rejected any such guarantees," said Patino, and also suggested that Ecuador believes that Swedish authorities would not act with Assange's best interest.

Carl Bildt responded quickly via the micro-blog site Twitter:
"Our stable legal system guarantees everyone's rights. We rejects all the claims to the contrary."

"First of all, this is an unacceptable attempt by Ecuador to stop the Swedish judicial process. In the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister's speech there were several serious accusations against the Swedish legal system that we must strongly reject," says Anders Jörle said.

Jörle believe that the basis Assange has been granted asylum is completely wrong, because Assange can not be released to the U.S. when the country is one which imposes the death penalty. Such disclosure is contrary to Swedish law, and Sweden's obligations under the European Convention, writes  Swedish news agency, TT.

Now the Foreign Ministry is reported to have decided to call Ecuador's ambassador to a meeting
"We will soon convene the ambassador to the Foreign Ministry to discuss our stance," says Jörle.
Some observers and supporters of Assange have asked that the fact that Sweden has not given their own word to Mr Asange that he will be safe in Sweden  and that he will not be shipped to the USA makes the Swedish authorities look dodgy.
by Scancomark.se Team