by ROBERT STEWENS
Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, left, shakes hands with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after a press conference inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Monday Aug. 18, 2014. PHOTO/AP/John Stillwell, POOL/CTV News
December 7 marked four years since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London and detained without charge. December 5 marked 900 days that he has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London after being forced to claim political asylum.
Assange remains in this perilous situation despite not having a single charge laid against him. The Swedish authorities seeking his extradition from the UK under bogus allegations of sexual assault recently upheld the arrest warrant against him.
If Assange had not taken shelter in the Ecuadorian embassy, he would most likely now be in prison—the fate of US army whistleblower Chelsea (Bradley) Manning—or even dead.
The attempts to railroad Assange to Sweden are being carried out by the Swedish, UK and US governments. Ultimately, the latter intends Assange to be extradited from Sweden to the United States where a grand jury, empanelled in 2010, remains open to bring as yet unspecified charges against him that may include espionage—a capital crime.
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