Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange saying the UK and Sweden plan to hand him over to the US for "persecution."
Its foreign ministry in a statement on its website on Thursday (16 August) said it granted his request on grounds that if the UK extradites him to Sweden, then Sweden will hand him over to the US, where he risks "persecution … [and] cruel and degrading treatment" in a military trial which could end in life in jail or the death penalty.
Despite...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.