The foreign ministers of Britain and Ecuador have met, but failed to reach agreement on the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who remains holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London.
Britain's William Hague and Ecuador's Ricardo Patino spoke Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to talk over Assange's fate. The British government said in a statement that both ministers are committed to finding a diplomatic resolution to the matter and are willing to meet again.
Assange has been sheltering in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 19. Ecuador has granted him asylum, but British police are set to arrest him if he steps outside the mission. Assange is wanted in Sweden on sex crimes charges.
Assange and his supporters fear that Sweden may extradite him to the United States to stand trial for releasing classified U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables on his WikiLeaks site.
Late Wednesday, Assange addressed a group of U.N. delegates by videolink, accusing U.S. President Barack Obama of supporting free speech in the recent Arab uprisings while "persecuting" WikiLeaks for making the classified documents public.
Britain's William Hague and Ecuador's Ricardo Patino spoke Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to talk over Assange's fate. The British government said in a statement that both ministers are committed to finding a diplomatic resolution to the matter and are willing to meet again.
Assange has been sheltering in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 19. Ecuador has granted him asylum, but British police are set to arrest him if he steps outside the mission. Assange is wanted in Sweden on sex crimes charges.
Assange and his supporters fear that Sweden may extradite him to the United States to stand trial for releasing classified U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables on his WikiLeaks site.
Late Wednesday, Assange addressed a group of U.N. delegates by videolink, accusing U.S. President Barack Obama of supporting free speech in the recent Arab uprisings while "persecuting" WikiLeaks for making the classified documents public.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
