Ecuador on Thursday announced it had granted asylum to Wikeleaks founder Julian Assange, who had been at the country's embassy in London requesting political asylum. The country's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his country would grant Assange asylum based upon his request, despite the British government's wishes to extradite him to Sweden to face sexual assault charges. “Under our law, with Mr. Assange having exhausted all options of appeal, the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden. We shall carry out that obligation. The Ecuadorian government's decision this afternoon does not change that. We remain committed to a negotiated solution that allows us to carry out our obligations under the Extradition Act,” said a statement from the British Foreign Office. On Monday, Ecuador's Rafael Correa told a local television station that he would meet on Wednesday with the team in charge of legal analysis of Assange's case in order for the country to continue examining the request of asylum before making a “responsible and independent decision." Britain's The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Ecuador was set to grant Assange asylum, citing a diplomatic source in the Ecuadorian capital Quito. “The only spokesmen on the Julian Assange issue are President Rafael Correa and Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino. Ecuador is still studying the request, the authorities will make an announcement," Deputy Foreign Minister Marco Albuja had said on Twitter. Having taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 19, Australian-born Assange pleaded the South American country for political asylum after his legal team's attempts to fight his extradition to Sweden failed. Assange is wanted in Sweden for sexual assault accusations against him by two women. But he insists that the Swedish authorities actually plan to hand him over to the United States, which wants to try him on charges of espionage for leaking thousands of secret US diplomatic cables. If convicted, he could face death penalty. The EU has a policy that bars country's from handing over suspects who could potentially face the death penalty in another country. Correa had earlier said his government would make a decision on the issue once the London Olympic Games was over.
