Wikileaks' Assange asks France for asylum
 Assange, who denies sex crimes in Stockholm four years ago, has written an open letter to the French president asking François Hollande to "welcome" him in France. His plea was published in the newspaper Le Monde on Friday - which marks the birthday of the Wikileaks' founder. The Australian has been ensconced in Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. The 44-year-old is due to be questioned in the British capital by Swedish prosecutors later this month, after they previously refused to travel to the UK to talk to him. His plea to France comes after Wikileaks published a revelations that the US spy program NSA snooped on three French presidents as well as top ministers and business deals between 2006 and 2012. The long letter, which is titled "Mr Hollande, Welcome me in France", starts with Assange introducing himself as "Julian Paul Assange, born on July 3rd, 1971 in Townsville. It then goes into detail about his story and spells out the danger he is in. "I am a journalist who has been pursued and threatened with death by the US authorities because of my professional activities. "I have never been formally charged with an offense or a common crime, anywhere in the world, including Sweden and the UK," Assange writes. |
