By Arthur Shaw

Article 13 of Inter-American Convention To Prevent and Punish Torture says, in part, that:

“Extradition shall not be granted nor shall the person sought be returned when there are grounds to believe that his life is in danger, that he will be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or that he will be tried by special or ad hoc courts in the requesting State.”

Ecuador signed the Convention May 20, 1986 and ratified it September 30, 1999.

The US-operated concentration and prison camps in Iraq, illegal US-operated concentration or prison camps on stolen Cuban territory, numerous media reports of torture by US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan. US congressional hearings on the use of enhanced interrogation, etc. provide “grounds to believe that his [Assange’s] life is in danger” and he may be subjected to torture or enhanced interrogation.

So, under Article 13, Ecuador is duty bound not to extradite or turn over Julian Assange to the UK authorities.

However, this argument has a slight difficulty in it.

Presently, the UK is the first requesting State, not the US.

The recent record of the UK regarding the use of torture is not as brazen as the record of some other countries. After all, Assange himself has spent some time in a UK jail without being killed or tortured

Sweden is a second subsequent requesting State.

Similarly, the record of the Sweden regarding the use of torture is not as brazen as the record of some other countries.

The USA, a hideous regime which tortures and degrades people, is the third subsequent requesting State in this case.

The USA, UK and Sweden may contend that under Article 13 of the Inter-American Convention and a similar provision of the UN Convention on Torture , Ecuador can only consider the recent record of the UK on torture, a record that may not be as bad as some other countries.

Question: Can the extraditing State [in this case, Ecuador] take into consideration “grounds to believe that his [Assange’s] life is in danger” or that he will be subjected to enhanced interrogation by one of the subsequent requesting States … in this case, the rogue US regime?

Obviously, the answer is yes, because Article 13 requires only “grounds to believe.”

This case in fact provides reasonable “grounds to believe.”

Everything now depends of the ethical and democratic will of the Ecuadorian people.

The Government of Ecuador promises the world a decision on the Assange case either upon or soon after the conclusion of the Olympics Games in London.

The glorious Ecuadorian People and their heroic and honorable elected representatives will, I believe, show the rotting capitalist world what ethics and democracy are all about.