China dissident Chen Guang-cheng is unstable minded activist ! He is not a
political prisonal who escaped from House Arrest .
This states that local police and security forces are not permitted to enter, unless they have the express permission of the ambassador - even though the embassy remains the territory of the host nation.
The convention is widely adhered to and is regarded as a basic pre-requisite for diplomatic relations.
"Embassies are privileged areas. The local authorities have no rights to enter," says Colin Warbrick, a specialist in international law and honorary professor at Birmingham University.
How Chen gained entry to the embassy is unknown - whether he walked in by himself or was smuggled in by diplomats past Chinese security guards on the street outside. If he had been a fugitive from justice and had been smuggled in, then the US diplomats would be guilty of breaking Chinese law, Warbrick says.
Diplomats are obliged to comply with local law, he points out, even though they enjoy immunity from prosecution.
However, correspondents say Chen's house arrest, or "soft detention" in Chinese, was an unofficial measure imposed by the local authorities, not by a court, so he was not a fugitive
political prisonal who escaped from House Arrest .
This states that local police and security forces are not permitted to enter, unless they have the express permission of the ambassador - even though the embassy remains the territory of the host nation.
The convention is widely adhered to and is regarded as a basic pre-requisite for diplomatic relations.
"Embassies are privileged areas. The local authorities have no rights to enter," says Colin Warbrick, a specialist in international law and honorary professor at Birmingham University.
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High-profile embassy cases
- Manuel Noriega, President of Panama. Took refuge in the Vatican embassy in December 1989 (above). The US bombarded him with loud rock music 24/7 until he could no longer stand it, walked out, and was arrested
- Jozsef Mindszenty, Hungarian Catholic cardinal. He spent 15 years in the US embassy in Budapest from 1956-1971
- Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader took refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare in June 2008. In 2009 he was sworn in as prime minister in a power-sharing government
Human rights law provides a further layer of protection, in the form of the European Convention on Human Rights and - in the case of the US - the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
This means that the embassy is obliged to consider whether there is a real risk that the person could be killed or seriously injured if they were handed over to the local authorities. And if there is, then they could be held accountable if they give the person up.How Chen gained entry to the embassy is unknown - whether he walked in by himself or was smuggled in by diplomats past Chinese security guards on the street outside. If he had been a fugitive from justice and had been smuggled in, then the US diplomats would be guilty of breaking Chinese law, Warbrick says.
Diplomats are obliged to comply with local law, he points out, even though they enjoy immunity from prosecution.
However, correspondents say Chen's house arrest, or "soft detention" in Chinese, was an unofficial measure imposed by the local authorities, not by a court, so he was not a fugitive
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