Ecuadorian president defends decision to offer Assange asylum

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa attends to a radio interview in Quito, capital of Ecuador, on Aug. 17, 2012. Ecuador's President defended, what he called the "sovereign" decision of his country to grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. WikiLeaks founder seeks to find asylum to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he is wanted for alleged sexual assault charges. Correa insisted that Assange deserves a due process, on the charges alleged against him. (Xinhua/Str)

QUITO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Friday defended his country's "sovereign" decision to grant Wikileaks founder Julian Assange political asylum.

"After almost two months of analyzing the legal process, the government decided to grant him asylum," Correa told a local television in his first public statement after the decision was made Thursday.

Correa said political asylum was given to the 41-year-old Australian, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden for allegations of rape and sexual assault, as Stockholm never guaranteed that Assange would not be handed over to a third country.

"Sweden never gave that guarantee, England never gave it," he said.

He added that Assange risked life in prison if extradited to the United States, which was preparing prosecution against Wikileaks' activities.

The move is "loyal to the country's tradition of protecting the people who seek shelter in its territory or in their embassies," Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Thursday.

The U.S. government on Friday refused to recognize the diplomatic asylum that Ecuador granted to Assange as the Organization of American States (OAS) is considering convening a meeting on the issue.

"The United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a statement.

According to the OAS website, the organization is considering convening a foreign ministerial meeting on Aug. 23 in Washington on the issue which has triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.

Washington has been furious about Assange's WikiLeaks which in the 2010 disclosed tens of thousands of U.S. war documents related to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the diplomatic cables.