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Julian Assange Seeks Asylum at Ecuador's U.K. Embassy [UPDATED]


Julian Assange, founder of secret-spilling website WikiLeaks, is seeking asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London.

The embassy confirmed Tuesday that Assange took refuge there, according to the Associated Press. Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, is considering approving the request.

Assange's asylum request comes less than a week after the U.K. Supreme Court denied his legal team's request to re-open his extradition case on a legal technicality.

The Australian-born Assange is wanted by Swedish authorities to answer allegations of sexual assault made against him nearly two years ago. He appealed extradition from the U.K. to Sweden on the basis that the Swedish prosecutor who made the request lacked the legal authority to do so. He's been living under house arrest at a supporter's house near London while the Supreme Court considered his appeal.

Assange and his supporters fear that if he was sent to Sweden, he would be immediately extradited to the U.S. Assange believes that the U.S. wants to charge him with crimes related to the leak of classified American military and diplomatic documents.

Soon after the news of Assange's asylum request first broke, WikiLeaks tweeted a message that more details would be released shortly. Mashable will update this post with new information as it's released.

UPDATE: The London Embassy of Ecuador has released the following statement: "This afternoon Mr Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy seeking political asylum from the Ecuadorian government. As a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights, with an obligation to review all applications for asylum, we have immediately passed his application on to the relevant department in Quito. While the department assesses Mr Assange’s application, Mr Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorian Government. The decision to consider Mr Assange’s application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the Government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden."

UPDATE 2: Julian Assange interviewed Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa for his television show last month.

Images courtesy of Flickr, acidpolly

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