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
UK–US extradition treaty of 2003 evidence standards, that the treaty is balanced and that there is not "any basis to conclude that extradition from the United Kingdom to the US operates unfairly or oppressively" The review contradicts the findings of Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), which was intended to form part of the Government's full extradition review and which called for the Government to renegotiate the UK's extradition treaty with the United States to ensure British citizens get the same protection as Americans. The Home Affairs Select Committee recently published a report into the UK/US extradition treaty and Extradition Act, acknowledging the low