Ecuador is likely to announce a decision on whether to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the end of the week, President Rafael Correa has said.
Mr Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 19th to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.
The former computer hacker, who enraged Washington in 2010 by publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables, says he fears he could be sent to the US, where he believes his life would be at risk. “We have to look at the possibility that he may be extradited to the United States, that there may be a secret court there, that he may face the death penalty,” Mr Correa said. – (Reuters)