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Julian Assange says he will leave Ecuadorian embassy soon Julian Assange says he will leave Ecuadorian embassy soon
(about 2 hours later)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said he "will be leaving the embassy soon" during a press conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has sought asylum for more than two years. Julian Assange has rebuffed reports that he is planning to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in order to hand himself in to police, saying only that he will leave "soon".
The 43-year-old Australian said on Monday his decision to leave was not for reasons "reported by the Murdoch press" but did not elaborate. Media reports had surfaced ahead of a press conference on Monday morning suggesting that the WikiLeaks founder intended imminently to give himself up to the British authorities. Assange has been confined in the embassy for more than two years after being granted political asylum.
He has been living in the embassy as part of a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where there is a warrant against him over alleged sexual offences against two women. But when questioned by reporters alongside Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patiño, Assange said WikiLeaks' spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson had "confirmed that I am leaving the embassy soon, but perhaps not for the reasons the Murdoch press and Sky news are saying at the moment".
Assange's announcement follows speculation that he was planning to leave to seek hospital treatment for heart and lung problems. He refused to elaborate, but speaking later, Hrafnsonn said: "He is ready to leave at any moment as soon as the ridiculous siege outside will stop and he is offered safe passage." He added that "his bag is packed". Asked explicitly if there were plans for Assange to hand himself in to British police, who maintain a 24-hour guard outside the embassy, Hrafnsson said: "No."
He mentioned the "difficulty" of living inside a small room, which he said would affect any "healthy person". Assange also declined to respond in detail to suggestions reported in an interview with him on Sunday that he had potentially life-threatening health problems, saying only that the embassy was "an environment in which any healthy person would find themselves soon enough with certain difficulties that they would have to manage".
He told journalists: "I can confirm I will be leaving the embassy soon." Patiño repeated calls published in the Guardian for Assange's situation to be resolved, saying there had been "two lost years" since he entered the embassy. The Australian sought asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face accusations of sexual assault from two women. He fears onward extradition to the US to face charges relating to WikiLeaks' publishing activities.
He faces arrest the moment he steps outside the building, where police officers have been stationed since he arrived. "We once again call on the international community, particularly on journalists, to join a much needed international campaign to guarantee freedom and human rights for Assange," said the foreign minister. "We uphold Julian Assange's status as a political asylee. We continue to offer him our protection and we continue to be ready to talk to the British government and the Swedish government in order to try to find a solution to this serious breach of Julian Assange's human rights."
He believes that if he is extradited to Sweden, he will then be sent on to the United States for questioning over the activities of the whistle-blowing organisation. He said he hoped "over the coming weeks" to set up a meeting with the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, to discuss the case.
Last week he lost a legal bid to have the arrest warrant against him cancelled. The decision by Judge Lena Egelin dashed hopes of a breakthrough in his case.
Assange told journalists there has been "no movement at all" in the Swedish investigation and said the Ecuadorian government and his legal team were the only "reasonable" parties involved in the case.