Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblower site WikiLeaks who is seeking political asylum in Ecuador's embassy in London, faces arrest if he emerges for breaching bail terms imposed while he battles attempts to extradite him to Sweden, British police say.
A dozen supporters bearing placards declaring "Free Assange" gathered outside the five-storey red-brick building in the upmarket district of Knightsbridge where Assange sought refuge on Tuesday, causing Britain a legal and diplomatic headache.
Assange's 11th-hour decision to seek refuge in the embassy was more reminiscent of Cold War-era episodes seen in
authoritarian countries than of the British legal process.
authoritarian countries than of the British legal process.
"He has breached one of his bail conditions which was to be at his bail address between 10pm and 8am every day ... He is subject to arrest under the Bail Act," a spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said.
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about allegations of sexual assault made by two women, which he denies.
The justice ministry in Stockholm said on Wednesday it expected Britain to extradite Assange, but authorities in London said he was beyond the police's reach in the Ecuadorean embassy.
Assange's fears
Ecuador said Assange had accused his native Australia of abandoning him and expressed fears that if sent to Sweden, he would be extradited onwards to the US where he believes he could face criminal charges punishable by death.
Assange's website, WikiLeaks, angered the US administration in 2010 by publishing secret US diplomatic cables.
"I genuinely believe, and I know him well, that he fears for his life," said Vaughan Smith, founder of a now defunct TV news agency, who hosted Assange at his country mansion for 13 months after Assange was freed on bail in December 2010.
"He fears that if he goes to Sweden he'll be sent to America and you only have to look at the treatment of Bradley Manning by the Americans to fell that he's right to be fearful," Smith told the BBC.
Manning, the US intelligence analyst accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of government files to Wikileaks, faces a court-martial in September at which he could be jailed for life.
Authorities in Quito, who had briefly offered Assange residency at the height of the WikiLeaks furore in November 2010 before backing off, are considering his asylum request.
Ecuador connection
It was not clear whether Assange's decision to appeal to Ecuador was connected to a recent interview he conducted with Rafael Correa, the South American country's leftist president, on Russia Today, a Kremlin-sponsored English-language TV channel.
"Cheer up. Welcome to the club of the persecuted," Correa told Assange at the end of the interview, which was conducted by video-link between Britain and Ecuador and posted on YouTube by Russia Today TV channel on May 22.
The two men appeared to hit it off during the 25-minute interview, exchanging flattering comments and laughing at each other's jokes.
Assange expressed sympathy with Correa's battle against his country's media - viewed by Human Rights Watch as a serious threat to free speech - and praised him for getting more done for his country than President Barack Obama was achieving for the Us.
In London, a crowd of television crews and reporters were stationed in front of the Ecuadorean embassy but there was no sighting of Assange, whose distinctive white-blond hair has helped make him instantly recognisable around the world.
Neither US nor Swedish authorities have charged Assange with anything.
Avenues exhausted
Swedish prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women, former WikiLeaks volunteers, in 2010.
Assange says he had consensual sex with the women.
The former computer hacker, whose unpredictable behaviour and love of the limelight has cost him the support of many
former friends and colleagues, lost a long-running legal battle last week to avoid extradition from Britain to Sweden.
former friends and colleagues, lost a long-running legal battle last week to avoid extradition from Britain to Sweden.
Having exhausted all possible avenues offered by the British courts, Assange's only option to keep fighting would have been an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
However, his flight to the Ecuadorean embassy complicates his situation.
"He has breached one of his bail conditions which was to be at his bail address between 10pm and 8am every day ... He is subject to arrest under the Bail Act," a spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said.
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