Ecuador raises Assange case with UK's Labour

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:40PM GMT

The Ecuadorian government has held talks with Britain's Labour party in a bid to resolve the current standoff between Quito and London over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, media reports say.

In a meeting on Friday, Ecuador's ambassador to the UK Ana Alban raised Assange's case with the British shadow foreign minister Kerry McCarthy, seeking assurance that the Australian activist will not be extradited to the US if he travels to Sweden.

'Ecuador wants to see the current situation resolved but has lost all faith in the current government's willingness to do that. They have approached the Labour Party in the hope of striking a deal for after the next election [in 2015]," a source told The Independent.

Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since June 2012 and has secured political asylum from the South American country after he lost a legal battle against extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over the sexual abuse allegations.

It is believed that Assange's extradition to the North European country is a cover for sending him to the US, where he is wanted over the release of thousands of US' classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on his whistleblower website.

SSM/HE