Julian Assange seeks Ecuador asylum: Wikileaks founder …

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuadors embassy in London claiming political asylum.

The country's foreign minister Ricardo Patino told a news conference that the controversial whistleblower said he was being persecuted and was seeking asylum.

He said that Assange, an Australian, had argued that 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.

Referring to the Unites States, he said it was impossible for him to return to his homeland because it would not protect him from being extradited to a foreign country that applies the death penalty for the crime of espionage and sedition.

The move comes less than a week after Britains Supreme Court rejected Assanges bid to reopen his attempts to block extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning after two women accused him of sexual misconduct during a visit to the country two years ago.

He denies the allegations.

His legal struggle to stay in Britain has dragged on for neearly two years, clouding his websites work exposing the worlds secrets.

Assange shot to fame in 2010 with the release of hundreds of thousands of secret US documents, including a video showing US forces gunning down a crowd of Iraqi civilians and journalists whom they had mistaken for insurgents.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said: Ecuador is studying and analysing the request.

A spokesman from the Ecuador Embassy said: This afternoon Mr Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy seeking political asylum from the Ecuadorian government.

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