Ecuador is worried about the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage from its London embassy to hospital if he needs medical treatment, a senior Ecuadorean diplomat said in Moscow.
Assange, an Australian, has been holed up inside Ecuador’s embassy in central London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations.
British authorities say Assange will be arrested if he sets foot outside the embassy. The apartment building, located just behind London’s famed Harrods department store, is under constant police surveillance.
“Assange has grown noticeably thinner, and we are very concerned about his health,” Voice of Russia radio quoted Vice Foreign Minister Marco Albuja Martinez as saying in comments confirmed by the Ecuadorean embassy in Moscow.
“If he falls ill, we will have to choose between two alternatives: to treat Assange in the embassy or hospitalise him,” Albuja Martinez said. “This is a very serious situation and it can affect Assange’s human rights.”
Later on Wednesday, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Quito that while he does not know if Assange has any medical problems, he is worried about his health as time goes on.