Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor, activist, political talk show host, computer programmer, publisher and journalist.
"I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks,"
"The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters."
"dragging us all into a dark, repressive world in which journalists live under fear of prosecution."
"If Bradley Manning really did as he is accused, he is a hero, an example to us all, and one of the world's foremost political prisoners."
London Police artificially sealed up Julian Assange in Ecuador's London embassy on Friday with police guarding all exits. Some 20 British police were seen outside the embassy early Friday, all set to arrest 41-year-old Assange if he leaves the building. Britain warned that they could guard the gates for years if need be.
Ecuador granted safe haven on Thursday to Assange -- whose website WikiLeaks infuriated the United States by publishing a huge collection of classified government files in 2010 of US military documents on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic cables. Britain refused to grant him safe passage out of the London.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his government was indebted under its own laws to send back the Australian national to Sweden, where he was hunted for alleged sex crimes.
"No one, least of all the government of Ecuador, should be in any doubt that we are determined to carry out our legal obligation to see Mr Assange extradited to Sweden," Hague told a press conference on Thursday.
WikiLeaks faulted the police actions as "intimidation tactics".
Some supporters of the former computer hacker keep watch till day break outside the Ecuadorian embassy located in London's posh Knightsbridge district in a bid to defy any potential attempt to arrest him. Assange and his supporters claim the Swedish case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the U.S. over his work with WikiLeaks this is disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.
"We'll stay here as long as we have to," 26-year-old protester Baba Gena told AFP.
Assange was sealed off in the embassy since June 19, when he walked in and claimed asylum.
Under standard diplomatic procedures, embassies are considered the territory of the countries they stand for and cannot be entered without authorization.
Britain has irritated Ecuador by saying it could conjure a domestic law allowing it to violate the usual rules and go in to hold Assange.
The impact of any forced arrest would challenge a fundamental principle of the diplomatic system, and the threat has left Britain in rudderless legal waters.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told AFP the move would "risk upsetting diplomatic relations all over the world".
"Hopefully, we will see the decision resolved in a civilised manner," he added.
A Foreign Office spokesman said Friday that Britain was "committed to working with the Ecuadorians to solve this matter amicably".
He added: "We will not be commenting on our meetings or contact with them."
Ecuador has called a meeting of foreign ministers from the South American regional bloc UNASUR on Sunday, while the Organization of American States is to decide Friday whether to call a meeting of its foreign ministers.
"Nobody is going to scare us," Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on his Twitter account, minutes before the decision to grant asylum was announced.
Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government granted asylum after Britain, Sweden and the United States refused to provide guarantees that Assange would not be passed on from Sweden to the US.
Supporters fear Assange could face the death penalty if sent to the United States, pointing to US authorities' harsh treatment of Bradley Manning, the soldier on trial for allegedly leaking military files to WikiLeaks.
Hague said Thursday that Sweden was "a country with the highest standards of law and where his rights are guaranteed".
He added: "We believe that should be assurance enough for Ecuador and any supporters of Mr Assange."
Washington has also denied that it is lobbying Britain to take Assange into custody.
Julian Assange urged the US to end its "witch-hunt" against Wikileaks in his first public statement from Ecuador's London embassy.
