Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Assange Seeks Asylum in Ecuador's London Embassy

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday walked into the Embassy of Ecuador in London and requested political asylum, WaPo reports.

The asylum request, Ecuadoran officials said, was under review, with Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino posting a message on his Twitter account saying that Assange had written to Correa to say he was being persecuted for “publishing truth that compromises the powerful.” The foreign minister signaled that his country was “ready to defend principles, not narrow interests.”

It is not clear why Assange chose the Embassy of Ecuador. According to WaPo, Human Rights Watch reports that journalists in Ecuador have been jailed under laws that punish “a lack of respect” toward government officials and particularly the president.

3 comments:

  1. According to WikiLeaks's Twitter account, Julian Assange has now been detained without charge for 560 days.

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  2. Ecuador (or a official in the government)may have offered him asylum previously or at least offered him an option.

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  3. Assange interviewed Correa (the president of Ecuador) on his show a couple of months ago. Probably made the deal then ;).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvUwC5JTAJY

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