Julian Assange Seeking Asylum In Ecuador

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange entered Ecuador’s London-based embassy on Tuesday and asked officials to grant him political asylum in order to stop his extradition to Sweden. Ecuadorian Prime Minister Ricardo Patino is currently weighing the decision.

Assange entered the embassy after Britain’s Supreme Court last week rejected his newest attempt to block extradition to Sweden on sexual aggravation charges.

According to Patino, Julian Assange wrote him a letter in which he said he was being persecuted. According to Pitino:

“The authorities in his country will not defend his minimum guarantees in front of any government or ignore the obligation to protect a politically persecuted citizen.”

Assange’s biggest worry is that officials in Sweden will quickly extradite him to “a foreign country that applies the death penalty for the crime of espionage and sedition.”

Julian Assange has long claimed that the U.S. has secretly indicted him for sharing American secrets and will act on that indictment if Sweden who shares extradition rights with the United States gets their hands on him.

According to Patino said he is considering the request for asylum but only by “taking into account the respect for the norms and principles of international law as well as Ecuador’s policy of protecting human rights.”

The Australian website owner would travel back to his own country however Australian officials said they would offer Assange no protection should he return, even though they found him not-guilty of breaking any Australian laws.

Do you think Julian Assange should be granted political asylum in Ecuador?