Story highlights
Julian Assange is inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Ecuador's foreign minister says
He has made a formal request for asylum, the minister says
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has asked for asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Ecuadorian officials said Tuesday.
Ecuador’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, speaking in Quito, said Assange was inside the building and had formally requested asylum.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom last week dismissed an application filed by an attorney for Assange seeking to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden.
Assange has been fighting for a year and a half against being sent to Sweden for questioning about accusations of sexual abuse. Two women accused him in August 2010 of sexually assaulting them during a visit to Sweden in connection with a WikiLeaks release of internal U.S. military documents.
WikiLeaks’ work is not at issue in the extradition matter or the Swedish allegations against Assange.
CNN’s Bertha Rodriguez-Ramos and Brian Walker contributed to this report.
