Ecuador Friday guaranteed political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for “as long as necessary,” one day after he lost an appeal against a Swedish warrant for his arrest.
Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuador embassy in London for two years to avoid extradition to Sweden, is wanted for questioning there over alleged sex crimes, which he denies.
On Thursday he lost his claim that the detention order be set aside.
Quito reiterates “that the asylum granted to Julian Assange is valid and reaffirms its intention to continue protecting him as long as necessary, until he is in a safe place,” Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Assange fears extradition to Sweden could lead to him being transferred to the United States to face trial over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US military and diplomatic documents.
In 2010, WikiLeaks began publishing 250,000 American diplomatic cables and 500,000 classified military reports.
The leak covered both American diplomacy and the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
