Reuters/London

Supporters of WikiLleaks founder Julian Assange shelter from the rain as they demonstrate outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London yesterday

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday said he was ready for a life in Ecuador and said the country had been “quite supportive” of his bid for asylum.
Assange is holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has sought asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning on sexual assault charges. He faces arrest by the British police if he leaves the embassy.
In an telephone interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio from the embassy, Assange said he was concerned about being sent to the US to face possible charges related to the WikiLeaks website, which published thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables in 2010.
“The Ecuadorean people have been quite supportive. I heard (the) Ecuadorean ambassador in Australia has been making supportive comments. They are sympathetic over a long period of time,” he said. “We hope the asylum application will be viewed favourably. Now it’s is a matter of gathering extensive evidence of what is happening in the US and submitting that with a formal request.”
Meanwhile Ecuador President Rafael Correa said he would discuss Assange’s bid for asylum with other countries and did not want to “offend anyone,” including Britain.
Correa, a leftist leader often at odds with Washington, has said he is weighing the request and looking into whether Assange might face the death penalty or persecution on ideological grounds. “We have to discuss this and solicit the opinions of other countries,” he said. “We don’t want to offend anyone, least of all a country for whom we have deep respect, like the United Kingdom,” he said. “However, we will not give up our sovereign right to make our own decisions,” he added.
Earlier, Jemima Khan, one of the people who collected bail money for Assange, said the WikiLeaks founder must face court and answer sex crime allegations in Sweden instead of trying to avoid extradition and taking refuge inside the Ecuador embassy.
Jemima, daughter of billionaire James Goldsmith and former wife of Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, was among those who put up a total of £240,000 bail for the 40-year-old WikiLeaks founder.
Assange’s supporters risk losing their money after he spent two nights in the Ecuador embassy in Knightsbridge, the Telegraph reported.
Jemima said Assange’s alleged victims deserved justice too, and that he should respond to the allegations.