Julian Assange is concerned not about any proceedings in Sweden as such, but believe that his deportation to Sweden could lead to politically motivated deportation to the United States, where he could face severe penalties, up to the death sentence, for his activities related to WikiLeaks. On 16 August 2012, Foreign Minister Patiño announced that Ecuador was granting Assange political asylum because of the threat represented by the United States secret investigation against him and several calls for assassination from many American politicians. In its formal statement, Ecuador reasoned that "as a consequence of [Assange's] determined defense to freedom of expression and
Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority Assange was dropped, one of his lawyers, Per Samuelson, reiterated his opposition to it saying "With the Supreme Court's own reasoning, his detention should now be rescinded because we can now prove that the U.S. is hunting Julian Assange." This followed public statements made by American President Donald Trump, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as to the appropriateness of charging Assange in the U.S. with crimes related to WikiLeaks. Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority Julian Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority were the set of legal proceedings in the United Kingdom concerning the requested extradition of Julian