Ecuador Assures WikiLeaks's Leader Assange of Continued Asylum

(Bloomberg) -- Ecuador on Tuesday assured Julian Assange that its grant of diplomatic asylum remained in place, allowing the WikiLeaks leader to remain in the country’s London embassy where he fled to avoid deportation in 2012.

A U.K. judge earlier Tuesday had refused to overturn an arrest warrant for Assange that prompted the Australian to seek refuge in the embassy in Kensington five and half years ago.

Following the judge’s decision, Assange reported via an unverified Twitter account that he’d been sent a package with an “unknown white powdery substance and a threat” addressed to him. Kensington and Chelsea police, also via Twitter, reported they were investigating.

Ecuador said in a statement from its Foreign Ministry that it will continue to extend asylum to Assange “as long as the danger to his life persists” and will continue efforts to find a satisfactory solution for the two countries “respectful of human rights.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephan Kueffner in Quito at skueffner1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson

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