Hong Kong is not controlled by the USAUK intelligence corpus so they would probably respect diplomatic privilege and allow him to leave for Iceland as long as h

Hong Kong is not controlled by the USAUK intelligence corpus so they would probably respect diplomatic privilege and allow him to leave for Iceland as long as he does so under diplomatic protection. It is probably also the case the UK wouldn't arrest Assange if he left under diplomatic protection, despite their claims that they would, since it would be a gross violation of diplomatic protocol. Remember that a Libyan opened fire on a crowd of Londoners from balcony of the Libyan embassy with a sub-machine gun, killing a young police woman and the UK still allowed the shooter to leave the country without charges. Diplomatic protocol is one of the strongest traditions of nations, breaching it is a serious blow to international perception of a nations trustworthiness (think red wedding). The UK is likely bluffing but Assange doesn't want to take the chance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher Hong Kong is unlikely to threaten gross violation of diplomatic protocol over a mere extradition request.