Assange lawyer accuses Washington of 'persecution'

Yahoo – AFP, April 11, 2019

Spanish lawyer Baltasar Garzon, defence coordinator of the Australian editor of
WikiLeaks Julian Assange, said there is "evident political persecution" against his
client (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS)

Madrid (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrested in London on a US extradition request, is the target of "political persecution," the man coordinating his defence said Thursday.

"There is evident political persecution which started precisely with the massive publication by WikiLeaks in 2010 of cables and very serious information" which Assange had published, including a trove of classified Pentagon documents detailing alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Spanish lawyer Baltasar Garzon.

"The threats against Julian Assange for political reasons, persecution on the part of the United States, are more current than ever," said Garzon, who also accused Ecuador's president of lying about the reasons behind the revoking of Assange's citizenship of the South American state, acquired in 2017.

Garzon, who has previously described the case against Assange as arbitrary and baseless, is a high-profile human rights investigator who was investigating magistrate when former Chilean doctator Augusto Pinochet was detained in London on a Spanish warrant for extradition to face genocide charges. The British government ultimately rejected extradition on humanitarian grounds in that case.

A video grab taken from AFPTV footage shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange 

as he is driven by British police to Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London

on April 11, 2019 (AFP Photo)

British police arrested Assange at the Ecuadoran embassy in London, where he had spent seven years as a recluse, claiming asylum and Ecuadoran nationality, both of which President Lenin Moreno revoked.

A London court hours later found Assange guilty of jumping bail in 2012 while wanted in Sweden on charges of sexual assault which were subsequently dropped.

"We are very concerned because the Ecuadoran government and in particular its president have not told the truth in the published statement" on Assange, said Garzon, adding that Quito's arguments for justifying his loss of citizenship were "false".

The US Justice Department earlier had said Assange, a 47-year-old Australian, faced a federal charge in the US and a jail term of up to five years for "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified US government computer".

The indictment alleges Assange conspired in March 2010 with Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst, to crack a password stored on Department of Defense computers.

Timeline on #WikiLeaks founder #JulianAssange, after he was arrested by British police on April 11 pic.twitter.com/qlBZQvBrH0

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 11 april 2019

Norwegian police find canoe belonging to missing Dutch cyber security expert

DutchNews, September 13, 2018

Police in Norway say they have found a collapsible canoe which belongs to missing Dutch cyber security expert Arjen Kamphuis. 

The canoe was found a day after several other items owned by Kamphuis turned up on the coast, east of Bodo where he was staying when he disappeared. He is known to have bought a canoe to use in the Norwegian fjords. 

Norwegian television station TV2 also claims that a fisherman found Kamphuis’ identity papers close to where the canoe was found. Police have declined to comment on the other findings. 

Kamphuis was last seen in Bodo on August 20 and should have returned to the Netherlands on August 22. On September 6 a witness told police he had spotted the missing man in Denmark. 

Police also say that Kamphuis’ mobile telephone had been turned on on August 30 in the vicinity of Vikeså, about 50k from Stavanger in Norway. The device remained active for 20 minutes after which a German sim card was put in it. 

The hunt for Kamphuis, 47, has been conducted by a police team known as Kripos, who specialise in organised crime and disappearances, Norwegian police said in a press release. According to Dutch media he is an expert in cyber security who advises governments, journalists and human rights experts. He is also an associate of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Assange claims victory after Sweden drops rape probe

Yahoo – AFP, May 19, 2017

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks on the balcony of the Embassy of
Ecuador in London on May 19, 2017 (AFP Photo/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS)

London (AFP) - Julian Assange claimed victory Friday after Swedish prosecutors dropped a seven-year rape allegation against the WikiLeaks founder, but insisted the "proper war" over his future was only just beginning.

Assange gave a clenched fist salute as he stepped into the daylight on the balcony of Ecuador's London embassy, where he has been holed up since 2012.

But the 45-year-old Australian said the road was "far from over" and declined to reveal whether he would leave the embassy after five years cooped up inside.

British police would arrest him immediately for breaching earlier bail conditions if he left the embassy, while US authorities have warned they regard WikiLeaks as a "hostile intelligence service".

"Today is an important victory," Assange told reporters and a small band of supporters crowded around the tiny balcony, after emerging wearing a black shirt and jacket.

"But it by no means erases seven years of detention without charge. In prison, under house arrest and almost five years here in this embassy without sunlight.

"That is not something that I can forgive. It is not something that I can forget."

Uncertain future

Earlier in Stockholm, Marianne Ny, Sweden's director of public prosecutions, said the rape investigation had been dropped because there was "no reason to believe that the decision to surrender him to Sweden can be executed in the foreseeable future".

"It is no longer proportionate to maintain the arrest of Julian Assange in his absence," she said.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange raises his fist prior to addressing the media on

 the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in London on May 19, 2017 (AFP Photo/

Justin TALLIS)

Despite the probe in Sweden being dropped, Assange would still face arrest if he set foot outside the embassy, a flat located just behind the plush Harrods emporium.

Assange jumped British bail by entering the embassy and claiming asylum, saying he feared he would eventually be extradited to the United States.

US justice authorities have never confirmed that they have Assange under investigation or are seeking his extradition.

But US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last month that "we will seek to put some people in jail", when asked if arresting Assange was a "priority" for Washington.

US prosecutors have been drafting a memo that looks at charges against Assange and WikiLeaks members that possibly include conspiracy, theft of government property and violations of the Espionage Act, according to The Washington Post.

US President Donald Trump's administration has put heat on WikiLeaks after it embarrassed the Central Intelligence Agency in March by releasing files and computer code from the spy agency's top-secret hacking operations.

"While today was an important victory and an important vindication, the road is far from over. The war, the proper war is just commencing," Assange said.

He said his lawyers were in touch with the British authorities and hoped to begin a dialogue about the "best way forward".

And the former computer hacker said that despite the "extremely threatening remarks" emanating from Washington, he was "always ready to engage with the Department of Justice".

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks on the balcony of the Embassy 

of Ecuador in London on May 19, 2017 (AFP Photo/Adrian DENNIS)

The department said Friday it had no comment "at this point" on Assange.

Asked if London would now support a request to extradite Assange to the United States, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: "We look at extradition requests on a case-by-case basis."

Assange's Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelsson, said his client plans to move to Ecuador because "it's the only nation where he is safe".

Decision a 'scandal'

In Sweden, Assange's accuser was left stunned by the prosecutors' decision.

"It is a scandal that a suspected rapist can escape justice and thereby avoid the courts," her lawyer, Elisabeth Fritz, told AFP in an email.

"My client is shocked and no decision to (end the case) can make her change (her mind) that Assange exposed her to rape," she said.

The accusation against Assange dates from August 2010 when the alleged victim, who says she met him at a WikiLeaks conference in Stockholm a few days earlier, filed a complaint.

She accused him of having sex with her -- as she slept -- without using a condom despite repeatedly having denied him unprotected sex.

Assange always denied the allegations, which he feared would lead to him being extradited to the United States and facing trial over the leak of hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents in 2010, which brought WikiLeaks to prominence.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addresses the media holding a printed report

of the judgement of the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on his case

 from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in central London on February 5,

2016 (AFP Photo/Niklas Halle'n)

Related Articles:

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Chelsea Manning prepares for freedom, as a woman

WikiLeaks releases CIA hacks of Apple Mac computers

Yahoo – AFP, March 23, 2017

According to Wikileaks documents the CIA can inject a undetectable bug deep
 into the essential firmware of an Apple Mac computer that will not be erased
even when the computer is reformatted (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Washington (AFP) - The Central Intelligence Agency is able to permanently infect an Apple Mac computer so that even reinstalling the operating system will not erase the bug, according to documents published Thursday by WikiLeaks.

In its second release allegedly from the CIA's arsenal of hacking tools, WikiLeaks also said that it appears the US spy agency has been able since 2008 to insert it bugs onto new and unused iPhones by intervening in Apple's supply and distribution network.

The release follows the initial publication on March 9 by the anti-secrecy group of thousands of pages of instructions and code from what it called the entire CIA arsenal of hacking tools.

The documents are generally believed to be genuine although the CIA has not acknowledged this.

The publication of the documents sparked a US counterintelligence investigation into how the documents leaked out from the CIA and made their way to WikiLeaks, with some people pointing fingers at the agency's use of private subcontractors as a likely source.

The newest documents focus on how the CIA targets Apple's popular personal electronics to spy on users.

They show the CIA developed a tool in 2012 called "Sonic Screwdriver" that can hijack an Apple computer's password-protected boot process from peripheral devices like adapters and USB drives.

By doing so, they can inject a undetectable bug deep into the computer's essential firmware that will not be erased even when the computer is reformatted.

The manual for the "NightSkies" bug shows that the CIA developed it in 2008 to be implanted physically in brand new iPhones.

"While CIA assets are sometimes used to physically infect systems in the custody of a target, it is likely that many CIA physical access attacks have infected the targeted organization's supply chain including by interdicting mail orders and other shipments," WikiLeaks said.

The documents provide a glimpse into the workings of the CIA. One showed the agency urgently trying to adapt NightSkies to a certain Apple laptop.

The agency "has the opportunity to gift a MacBook Air to a target that will be implanted with this tool," one 2009 document said.

"The tool will be a beacon/implant that runs in the background of a MacBook Air that provides us with command and control capabilities."

Related Article:

CIA blasts WikiLeaks for publishing secret documents

CIA blasts WikiLeaks for publishing secret documents

Yahoo – AFP, Paul Handley, Rob Lever, March 9, 2017

Assange said WikiLeaks had "a lot more information" about the CIA's hacking
operation but would hold off on publishing it until it had spoken to tech
manufacturers (AFP Photo/Saul LOEB)

Washington (AFP) - The Central Intelligence Agency accused WikiLeaks of endangering Americans, helping US rivals and hampering the fight against terror threats by releasing what the anti-secrecy site claimed was a trove of CIA hacking tools.

A CIA spokeswoman would not confirm the authenticity of the materials published by WikiLeaks, which said they were leaked from the spy agency's hacking operations.

Nevertheless, said spokeswoman Heather Fritz Horniak, "The American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the intelligence community's ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries."

"Such disclosures not only jeopardize US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm," she said.

Horniak defended the CIA's cyber operations, which the WikiLeaks materials showed focused heavily on breaking into personal electronics using a wide range of malware systems.

"It is CIA's job to be innovative, cutting-edge, and the first line of defense in protecting this country from enemies abroad," she said.

Massive leak

On Tuesday, WikiLeaks published nearly 9,000 documents it said were part of a huge trove leaked from the CIA, describing it as the largest-ever publication of secret intelligence materials.

"This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA," it said.

Graphic outlining technical objectives of CIA hacking schemes, according 

to a new document release by WikiLeaks (AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

The documents showed that CIA hackers can turn a TV into a listening device, bypass popular encryption apps, and possibly control one's car.

Most experts believe the materials to be genuine, and US media said Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is opening a criminal probe into the leak.

The source of the materials remained unclear. The investigation could focus on whether the CIA was sloppy in its controls, or, as The Washington Post reported, it could be "a major mole hunt" for a malicious leaker or turncoat inside the agency.

WikiLeaks itself said the documents, hacking tools and code came from an archive that had circulated among US government hackers and private contractors.

An investigation would come as the CIA is already enmeshed in a politically-charged probe into Russia's alleged interference in the US election last year in support of President Donald Trump's campaign.

WikiLeaks, which has stunned the US government with a series of publications of top secret political, diplomatic and intelligence materials, said the publication Tuesday was only the first of a series of releases of CIA hacking materials.

That raised concerns that the site could release the actual hacking tools it obtained along with the documents. Experts worry those could fall into the hands of anyone, including US enemies and criminals.

Tech sector scrambles for fixes

The WikiLeaks documents detailed the CIA's practice of exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware and software, without ever informing producers of them.

The CIA allegedly found ways to hack into personal electronics from leading companies like Apple and Samsung, Android phones, popular Microsoft software, and crucial routers from major manufacturers.

The documents suggest it can also infiltrate smartphones in a way that allows it to get around popular messaging encryption apps.

The tech sector was scrambling to understand how their products were at risk.

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today

 were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address 

any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in an emailed statement on the 

WikiLeaks documents (AFP Photo/Jack Taylor)

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in an emailed statement.

"We're confident that security updates and protections in both Chrome and Android already shield users from many of these alleged vulnerabilities," Google director of information security and privacy Heather Adkins said in a released statement.

"Our analysis is ongoing and we will implement any further necessary protections."

Samsung and Microsoft both said they were "looking into" what WikiLeaks revealed.

Encryption apps safe

Joseph Hall, a technologist with the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights organization, said the documents raise questions about the US government's pledge last year to disclose vulnerabilities to technology firms.

That pledge means "security flaws should get back to the companies so they can get fixed, and not languish for years," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union commented in a tweet: "When the govt finds software security holes, it should help fix them, not hoard them and leave everyone vulnerable."

Companies that make encryption programs and apps targeted by the CIA said the revelations show the agency has not been able to break their software.

Open Whisper Systems, which developed the technology for the Signal encryption app, said the CIA documents showed that Signal works.

"None of the exploits are in Signal or break Signal Protocol encryption," the group said in a tweet.

"The existence of these hacking tools is a testimonial to the strength of the encryption," said Steve Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science researcher, in a blog post.

Related Article:

WikiLeaks announces tech firm cooperation - New

UK spy agency GCHQ offers apology to gay code breakers, including Alan Turing

The UK's eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, has apologized for its ban on homosexuals, particularly in relation to legendary code breaker Alan Turing. The apology came on the same day it officially opened a Twitter account.

Deutsche Welle, 16 May 2016

Monument in Manchester to Alan Turing

The head of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has formally apologized for a ban on homosexuals which led to the dismissal and subsequent suicide of one of its best-ever code breakers, Alan Turing, in the 1950s.

Speaking on Monday, Robert Hannigan told a gay rights workplace conference in London that Turing had been an example to others as he had not been afraid to think "differently and radically."

Alan Turing portrait at the National Gallery

"(I want to) say how sorry I am that he and so many others were treated in this way," Hannigan said. "Their suffering was our loss." GCHQ's ban on homosexuals was only lifted in the 1990s. The life of Turing was featured in a recent film with Benedict Cumberbatch "The Imitation Game.'

"To do our job, which is solving some of the hardest technology problems the world faces for security reasons, we need all talents and we need people who dare to think differently and be different," Hannigan said.

While Turing, and other gay men were regarded as security risks by their employers, the UK's domestic spy agency MI5 was recently rated the country's most gay-friendly employer by campaign group Stonewall. Six years ago it was ranked 134 on the index.

A scene from 'The Imitation Game'

Now with an outward presence on Twitter

GCHQ rarely makes public pronouncements and so its entry to the world of social media made Monday a double-first. "We want GCHQ to be more accessible and to help the public understand more about our work," an unnamed spokesperson said. "We also want to reach out to the technical community and add our voice to social media conversations about technology," maths and cyber-security.

The agency's first tweet "Hello, world" came with a background image of its ring-shaped building in Cheltenham, known locally as the "doughnut."

Hello, world. https://t.co/SROtSsE8KB

— GCHQ (@GCHQ) May 16, 2016

GCHQ presented itself as an agency "Where our brightest people bring together intelligence and technology to keep Britain safe."

The US Central Intelligence Agency, which joined Twitter in February 2014 and boasts 1.36 million followers, was concise in its welcome:

Welcome to Twitter @GCHQ! https://t.co/EmD8hGMRBv

— CIA (@CIA) May 16, 2016

Within two hours, GCHQ was testing the mental agility of its 16,300 new Twitter followers with a soccer-doku puzzle based on England and Wales' group in the upcoming Euro 2016 tournament in France:

Try our soccer-doku puzzle, fill in the gaps (3 pts win, 1 draw). Answers: 5pm https://t.co/L19xcgjV22 #MathsMonday pic.twitter.com/MufsT4QYaM

— GCHQ (@GCHQ) May 16, 2016

Others reflected on who the spy agency would follow from its official account, starting with a famous and fictitious operative:

Glad to see @GCHQ new Twitter account is following James Bond @007

— Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) May 16, 2016

jm/msh (Reuters, AFP)

Related Article:

Britain pardons code-breaking hero Alan Turing over homosexuality conviction

Assange hails 'victory' from embassy balcony after UN panel ruling

Yahoo – AFP, Jacques Klopp, February 5, 2016

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addresses the media holding a printed report 

of the judgement of the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on his case

 from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in central London on February 5, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Niklas Halle'n)

London (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday urged Britain to let him walk free from Ecuador's London embassy after a UN panel found that the anti-secrecy campaigner who faces a rape allegation in Sweden was "arbitrarily detained."

Speaking to a handful of supporters and a media scrum in a rare appearance from the balcony of the embassy where he took refuge nearly four years ago, Assange hailed a "victory of historical importance".

"How sweet it is! This is a victory that cannot be denied," he proclaimed, waving a hard copy of the legal opinion and often seeming emotional.

Assange has refused to go to Sweden for questioning fearing deportation to the US over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A look back at the key dates in the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

(AFP Photo/Kun Tian, Thomas Saint-Cricq)

Earlier, the 44-year-old Australian told journalists via video link that it was "now the task of the states of Sweden and the United Kingdom as a whole to implement the verdict".

The UN panel said Assange's detention should end and that he should be able to claim compensation from Britain and Sweden.

But both countries quickly dismissed the non-binding legal opinion, with Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond calling it "ridiculous".

Assange walked into the embassy in June 2012 to avoid the threat of arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he still faces a rape allegation.

He has lived there ever since in a small office room with a bed, computer, sun lamp, treadmill and access to a small balcony decorated with Ecuador's flag.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo 

Patino speaks during a press conference

 in Quito on February 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Rodrigo Buendia)

In a statement, the panel said it had adopted an opinion that considered Assange "arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

It added: "The working group also considered that the detention should be brought to an end and that Mr Assange should be afforded the right to compensation."

Fears of imprisonment

Britain and Sweden sharply condemned the panel's findings and said they would change nothing.

Hammond called Assange "a fugitive from justice."

"This is frankly a ridiculous finding by the working group and we reject it," the foreign secretary added.

Sweden's foreign ministry said that it "does not agree" with the assessment.

"Mr Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point and Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay at the embassy," the ministry added.

Only three of the five members of the UN panel supported the opinion -- one recused herself because she is Australian, like Assange, and another member disagreed.

British designer Vivienne Westwood displays a British passport after arriving to visit

 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in central London, on

February 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Chris Ratcliffe)

Christophe Peschoux, the working group's secretary, said at a briefing in Geneva that Britain and Sweden had two months to submit new information to force a review, and Britain says it will contest the opinion.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said it was "time for both governments... to allow Julian Assange his freedom."

Swedish authorities want to speak to Assange about a rape allegation whose statute of limitations does not expire until 2020.

Elizabeth Fritz, the lawyer for the woman who has accused Assange, criticised the panel's comments.

"That a man who is wanted on an arrest warrant for rape should be awarded compensation for intentionally hiding from the judicial system for more than five years is offensive to my client," she said.

Swedish judicial authorities said last month that Ecuador had refused its request to let a Swedish prosecutor question Assange because Quito wanted an Ecuadorean prosecutor to do the questioning.

British Foreign Secretary Philip

Hammond described the UN panels'

decision on Wikileaks founder Julian 

Assange as "ridiculous" as he 

met journalists in London, on 

February 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Niklas Halle'n)

'Publicity stunt'

Assange fears that if he went to Sweden for questioning, he could then be sent to the US and face prison. 

WikiLeaks' activities -- including the release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- have infuriated the US.

The main source of the leaks, US Army soldier Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for breaches of the Espionage Act.

A hero to supporters and a dangerous egocentric to detractors, the computer programmer and hacker, whose celebrity fans include fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and singer Lady Gaga, founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and has been portrayed in two movies in recent years.

Britain spent over £10 million (12 million euros, $15 million) maintaining a 24-hour guard outside the embassy to immediately arrest Assange if he set foot on British soil, but withdrew it last year.

The Assange case has polarised opinion in Britain and there were many criticisms of his conduct Friday.

The Guardian newspaper, which has in the past worked with WikiLeaks to publish secret documents, used an editorial to condemn the latest developments as "a publicity stunt."

Julian #Assange should be able to walk free and claim compensation, UN panel says: https://t.co/3K7c4d7XKF pic.twitter.com/9WcaQsz7lw

— AFP London (@afplondon) February 5, 2016

Related Article:

Timeline: Julian Assange's story so far

Swedish prosecutors drop Assange sexual assault probe

Yahoo – AFP, Hugues Honore, 13 Aug 2015

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has always denied the sexual assault

allegations (AFP/John Stillwell)

Swedish prosecutors said on Thursday they had dropped a sexual assault probe against Julian Assange because the time limit on the case had expired.

Two of the four allegations against the WikiLeaks founder -- who has been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition -- have reached their statute of limitations after five years.

"Now that the statue of limitations has expired on certain offences, I am obliged to drop part of the investigation," prosecutor Marianne Ny said.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has

 been holed up inside Ecuador's London 

embassy since 2012

However she said she still wanted to question the 44-year-old Australian over a more serious claim of rape.

The accusations dropped involve one count of sexual assault and another of unlawful coercion. A separate allegation of sexual molestation will run out on August 18.

The Australian can still however be prosecuted for rape, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations and expires in 2020.

Assange has always denied the allegations brought by two Swedish women, and insists the sexual encounters were consensual.

Under Swedish law, if a suspect is not questioned before the deadline expires, they can no longer be tried for the alleged crimes.

Despite repeated attempts, prosecutors have been unable to gain access to Ecuador's embassy.

They initially insisted Assange return to Sweden for interrogation -- a condition he rejected on fears Stockholm could deliver him to US authorities, who may try him for leaking nearly 750,000 classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010.

In a U-turn in March, prosecutors agreed to Assange's compromise offer to question him inside the London mission but say they have yet to see their request approved by Ecuador because of procedural issues -- leading critics to suspect Quito of playing the clock.

Swedish chief prosecutor Marianne Ny is heading the investigation 

into Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

'Weight lifted'

Attorneys for Assange however say suspicions that Ecuador is using delaying tactics are unfounded.

"The (Swedish) request came in late and is being processed by Ecuador, which will certainly approve it after following its own procedures," Assange's Swedish lawyer Per Samuelsson told AFP earlier this month.

Claes Borgstrom, a lawyer for one of the two women accusing Assange of having assaulted them in 2010, said his client was trying to come to terms with the likelihood that the case will never be tried.

"She has always been ready to stand by her accusations and wanted to bring the case to court. But at the same time a weight has been lifted. This has been dragging on for five years and she wants to go back to her normal life," he told the daily Dagens Nyheter earlier this week.

Assange has compared living inside the embassy -- which has no garden but is in the plush Knightsbridge district, near Harrods department store -- to life on a space station.

His 15 feet by 13 feet (4.5 by 4 metre) room is divided into an office and a living area. He has a treadmill, shower, microwave and sun lamp and spends most of his day at his computer.

He is subject to a European arrest warrant and Britain has vowed to detain him if he sets foot outside the embassy, which is under constant police surveillance.