Swan says asylum up to Assange

Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan says the government has no information about any US indictment pending against Wikileaks chief Julian Assange, who has taken refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London.

“None whatsoever,” Mr Swan told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

Mr Assange has turned to leftist Ecuador for political asylum, claiming Australia won’t protect him from extradition to the United States where he could face the death penalty.

Assange walked into Ecuador’s embassy in London overnight and asked for asylum under the United Nations Human Rights Declaration.

The move comes less than a week after Britain’s Supreme Court rejected the 40-year-old Australian’s bid to reopen his extradition case.

When asked whether the government supported his asylum application, Mr Swan said: “That’s a matter for Mr Assange.

“What we will do is provide him with the full back-up as we provide to any Australian citizen.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Ecuadorian government had confirmed that Mr Assange had sought asylum.

“Our high commission in London will liaise with the Ecuadorian embassy in London to obtain further details,” the department said in a statement.

“The Australian government has provided strong consular support to Mr Assange and will continue to do so.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop described the government’s response as “stony silence”.

Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam said he had seen part of a letter Mr Assange had written to the Ecuadorian government.

Effectively it made the case the party had been making for the past 18 months.

“That he doesn’t have any confidence at all in the Australian government’s willingness to protect him, or to stand up for his rights,” he told reporters in Canberra.

Senator Ludlam understands Ecuadorian authorities have approached Sweden, Britain and the US about Mr Assange’s case, but not Canberra.

“I think that in itself is telling of the degree of neglect that he has been dealing with,” Senator Ludlam said, acknowledging there was no concrete evidence that a “secret indictment” existed to extradite Mr Assange to the US.

But he said the US ambassador in Australia had chosen his words “very carefully” when speaking on the matter.

“The US ambassador did say there was no warrant that he was aware of.

“It’s not a warrant that we are concerned about. It’s an indictment for charges of espionage.”

Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt said it was “shameful” that Mr Assange had been forced to turn to Ecuador for help.

He called on the government to use its “special relationship” with the US to ask what its plans were for Mr Assange’s case.

“If it’s the case that the US intends to put him on trial where he might face the death penalty, then that is something that should be of great concern to the Australian government,” the MP told reporters.

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