Because diplomatic missions, such as embassies and consulates enjoy extraterritorial status (isolated from the legal reach of their host country), persons have from time to time taken refuge from a host-country's national authorities inside the embassy of another country.
| Name | Notability | Reason for Seeking Refuge | Country | City | Mission's Country | Start Date | End Date | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John William, Baron Ripperda | Dismissed Prime Minister of Spain | Sought for fraud, embezzlement | Spain | Madrid | United Kingdom | April 13, 1726 | 1726 | Arrested in Embassy by Spanish[1] |
| Leonardo Argüello Barreto | President of Nicaragua | Ousted by Anastasio Somoza García | Nicaragua | Managua | Mexico | May 26, 1947 | December 1947 | Negotiated exile in Mexico |
| Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán | President of Guatemala | Ousted by Carlos Castillo Armas | Guatemala | Ciudad de Guatemala | Mexico | June 27, 1954 | June 28, 1954 | Negotiated exile in Mexico |
| Imre Nagy | deposed Prime Minister of Hungary | Soviet Intervention | Hungary | Budapest | Yugoslavia | November 4, 1956 | November 22, 1956 | Promised safe conduct upon exit; arrested by Soviets |
| József Mindszenty | Hungarian Roman Catholic Church cardinal | Soviet Intervention | Hungary | Budapest | United States | November 4, 1956 | November 4, 1971 | Negotiated exile in Austria |
| Reino Häyhänen | Soviet Lieutenant Colonel | defection | France | Paris | United States | November 4, 1956 | May 1957 | moved to the United States |
| Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein | Iraqi prince | coup led by Abd al-Karim Qasim | Iraq | Baghdad | Saudi Arabia | July 15, 1958 | September 1958 | left to exile in Egypt,later to Lebanon and London |
| Dith Pran | Cambodian journalist | Khmer Rouge seizure of Phnom Penh | Democratic Kampuchea | Phnom Penh | France | April 17, 1975 | April 1975 | Forced into Khmer Rouge custody |
| Fang Lizhi | dissident in Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 | forced end of Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 | China PRC | Beijing | United States | June 5, 1989 | June 25, 1989 | Negotiated flight to the United States |
| Manuel Noriega | President of Panama | United States invasion of Panama | Panama | Ciudad de Panama | Holy See | December 1989 | January 3, 1990 | Negotiated arrest by United States forces |
| Morgan Tsvangirai | Candidate for President of Zimbabwe | violence during Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008 | Zimbabwe | Harare | The Netherlands | June 26, 2008 | Ended 2008 | elected as prime minister of Zimbabwe |
| Anwar Ibrahim | De Facto Leader of the Opposition Malaysia | Death Threats and alleged Sodomy charge | Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | Turkey | June 29, 2008 | (ongoing) | |
| Mel Zelaya[2] | Ousted President of Honduras | wanted in homeland | Honduras | Tegucigalpa | Brazil | September 21, 2009 | January 28, 2010 | Negotiated exile in Dominican Republic |
| Shahram Amiri | Iranian nuclear scientist | disappeared from Iran | United States | Washington D.C. | Pakistan | July 13, 2010 | July 14, 2010 | returned to Iran |