QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuadoran officials are asking the United Kingdom to let WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leave his asylum at country’s embassy in London briefly for medical checks.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told a news conference on Wednesday that Assange needs an MRI for a pain in his shoulder that began three months ago.
“We are asking for a special safe conduct pass that lasts a few hours only so he can take a magnetic resonance and return under our protection,” Patino said, adding, “and possibly beneath the protection of British police, if they want to put 10,000 police alongside the vehicle to take him to the hospital.”
Patino said an option would be for another country or the Red Cross to bring a portable MRI machine to the embassy.
Assange took refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct and rape of two women – accusations he denies. He said he believes that Sweden would send him to the United States to be face charges for the WikiLeaks publication of thousands of classified U.S. government documents.
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