William Hague to the Swedish authorities who had requested his extradition; thus Swedish prosecutors, unwilling to break diplomatic protocol, have deferred from interrogating Assange at the Embassy of Ecuador, London. Hague confirmed the British Government's position – that it is lawfully obliged to extradite Julian Assange. "We're disappointed by the statement by Ecuador's Foreign Minister today that Ecuador has offered political asylum to Julian Assange. Under our Laws, with Mr. Assange having exhausted all options of appeal, the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden. We must carry out that obligation and of course we fully intend
Julian Assange published its opinion on Assange's asylum in a press statement that had been requested by Rafael Correa's government. According to Doughty Street, the ruling was made shortly after US Vice President Mike Pence raised the issue of Assange while on a visit to Ecuador. The ruling upheld the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits signatories of the American Convention on Human Rights from deporting foreign individuals when such a deportation would likely lead to their persecution "on account of race, nationality, religion, social status or political opinions". It concluded that the principle applies equally to diplomatic and territorial asylum. The decision,