Political Asylum

Ecuador Continues Playing Hardball With Julian Assange

On Monday Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa was elected to a one-year term as president of the United Nations General Assembly. On Tuesday she declared that her government would continue blocking WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from all communications and deny him any personal visitors. On Wednesday it became 10 weeks since Ecuador’s government deprived Assange of his rights, which it is obliged to honor after granting him political asylum in its London embassy in 2012.

Cuba Asserts Its Right To Protect US Political Prisoners

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla addresses the media during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, June 19, 2017. (AP/Ronald Zak)
Cuba defended its sovereign right to grant protection and asylum to U.S. dissidents, civil rights fighters and persecuted persons, rebuffing the demand of U.S. President Donald Trump that the Caribbean nation returns so-called U.S. “criminals” to the country as a precondition for the resumption of neighborly relations between the long-time foes.

Putin Offers Political Asylum To James Comey In Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and then-acting Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson, left, attend a signing ceremony in Tuapse, Russia, June 15, 2012. (AP/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev)
Vladimir Putin trolled the US on Thursday, when speaking in a live call-in show with the Russian nation, the Russian president likened Comey to Edward Snowden, who was granted asylum in Russia in 2013, and scoffed at James Comey’s disclosure of his conversations with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying the move has made Comey eligible for political asylum in Russia.

Time to Raise Political Asylum Quotas for Americans?

Here is Where the USA Should Top the List: the International Quota for Political Refugees
I don’t know how you feel about surveys, ranking or indexes, but whether you follow them or not, you must be aware of how we’ve been falling steadily as a nation. Those of you who follow lists-surveys and global indexes, let’s admit it- as a nation we have not been going up on most global ranking lists – in fact, just the opposite.