© Oli Scarff/Getty ImagesPolice in London stand guard outside the Ecuadorean embassy where Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, has been holed up since June 19.
Assange, a 41-year-old Australian, has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London since June 19, just 10 days before he was supposed to turn himself in to police.
He is trying to avoid extradition from the U.K. to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning for alleged sexual misconduct. He has exhausted all his legal avenues in his bid to avoid extradition.
"It was not Britain or my home country, Australia, that stood up to protect me from persecution, but a courageous, independent Latin American nation," Assange said in a statement.
Speaking in Quito, Ricardo Patino, the foreign minister of Ecuador, announced the decision to grant Assange asylum. Patino said Assange faces the threat of political persecution including the possibility of extradition to the United States, where Patino said the Australian would not get a fair trial. Patino added that neither the U.K. nor Sweden would offer Ecuador assurances that Assange would not be turned over to another country.
"It is not impossible that he would be treated in a cruel manner, condemned to life in prison, or even the death penalty," Patino said. "Ecuador is convinced that his procedural rights have been violated."
© Dolores Ochoa/Associated PressEcuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, speaking to reporters in Quito, said his country will grant asylum to WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange.
The U.K. has said it will arrest Assange when he leaves the embassy.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assange will not be allowed out of the the country.
Hague said Assange will not be granted passage from the U.K. because "there is no legal basis for us to do so."
Hague also rejected suggestions that the extradition is linked to the work of WikiLeaks or U.S. desires to try Assange.
The U.K. Foreign Office said it was "disappointed" with Ecuador's decision.
"Under our law, with Mr. Assange having exhausted all options of appeal UK authorities are under binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden," the Foreign Office said on Twitter.
"We shall carry out that obligation. The Ecuadorean government's decision this afternoon does not change that."
The Foreign Office said it was committed to a negotiated solution that would let it "carry out our obligations under the Extradition Act."
On Wednesday, the U.K. threatened to use a 1987 law to lift the Ecuadorean embassy's diplomatic status. The Foreign Office said it was Britain's "obligation to extradite Mr. Assange."
Sweden summoned Ecuador's ambassador in the wake of the decision to grant Assange asylum.
"We want to tell them that it's unacceptable that Ecuador is trying to stop the Swedish judicial process," Swedish Foreign Minister spokeswoman Anders Jorle said.
Assange's WikiLeaks website infuriated the United States when it began publishing thousands of diplomatic cables, war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq, and files about Guantanamo Bay.
Source: The Associated Press
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter