Ecuador repeated demands that Britain grant safe passage to Wikileaks
founder Julian Assange, who is holed up in Quito’s London Embassy in a
bid to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Ecuador has “carefully studied the case” and demands “that Great Britain
respect the Ecuadoran decision” to grant asylum to Assange, Foreign
Minister Ricardo Patino had said yesterday during a speech to indigenous
and peasant leaders.
Britain has vowed to arrest Assange if he leaves the embassy.
The 41-year-old Australian took shelter in the embassy in June after
exhausting legal appeals against extradition to Sweden, where he is
wanted for questioning on sexual assault allegations.
Assange fears Sweden will hand him over to the United States, where he
has said he could face prosecution and even the death penalty for
treason over his Website’s release of a trove of secret embassy cables
and war reports from Iraq and Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, Patino said talks with London “will resume this week” to try
to resolve the impasse, after Britain had earlier said it hoped to
restart negotiations as soon as possible.
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