Wikileaks’ Assange Seeks Asylum in Ecuador Embassy in London
By Nathan Gill and Randall Woods - Jun 19, 2012 3:09 PM ET
Julian Assange, the founder of anti- secrecy group Wikileaks, sought political asylum in Ecuador’s Embassy in London, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said.
Ecuador is studying the request and is in contact with the U.K.’S government, Patino told reporters today in Quito. Assange, accused of rape by two Swedish women, has fought extradition to Sweden for 18 months.
In a letter sent to Ecuador’s government, Assange said his home country of Australia has “effectively abandoned” him and is “ignoring the obligation to protect its citizen, who is persecuted politically.” Extracts of the letter were included in a statement given out by Patino.
Assange lost his bid this month to have the U.K.’s top court reconsider a decision that would allow him to be extradited to Sweden. The court rejected his argument that the Swedish prosecutor who investigated the sex-assault claims wasn’t authorized to issue a European arrest warrant.
The allegations against Assange became public around the same time he posted classified U.S. military and diplomatic cables on the Wikileaks website.
Assange said Sweden fabricated the arrest warrant to assist the U.S. in punishing him for the breach of security.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nathan Gill in Quito at ngill4@bloomberg.net; Randall Woods in Santiago at rwoods13@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.
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