Quintin Jardine's blog

Further on the Assange issue: The President of Ecuador, who has come to the rescue of the alleged rapist, on grounds of protecting free speech, has a pretty shady record himself in this area. A South American free speech watchdog, the kind of organisation you;d think Julian Assange would support, claims that recently his government published in the state-run media, photographs of several journalists who were described as its ‘enemies’. It reports that it has also closed twenty media outlets, including radio stations and a TV channel, and has punished others for anti-government lines.

Assange is a brilliant media manipulator, no doubt about that, but he is also a fugitive from Swedish and UK justice, no doubt about that either. Would a parallel situation be tolerated in Ecuador? (That was a rhetorical question.)