WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will leave Ecuador embassy in London 'soon'

Anti-secrecy activist and Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange speaks during a live video-conference in Mexico city, on Aug 7, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP
Anti-secrecy activist and Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange speaks during a live video-conference in Mexico city, on Aug 7, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP

LONDON (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Monday he would "soon" leave Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has sought asylum for over two years.

Speaking at a press conference, he said he "will be leaving the embassy soon" but not for reasons "reported by the Murdoch press", without elaborating.

But WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told AFP: "What Julian meant is that his plan is to leave as soon as the British government honours its commitment."

The British media reported at the weekend, quoting a WikiLeaks source, that he was suffering from the potentially life-threatening heart condition arrhythmia and had a chronic lung complaint as well as dangerously high blood pressure.

Assange was accompanied at the press conference by Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino. He did not mention a plan for Assange to leave the embassy, but called for the governments involved in his case to take action. "The situation must come to an end - two years is simply too long," he said. "We continue to offer him our protection... we continue to be ready to talk with the British government and the Swedish government to find a solution to this serious breach of Julian Assange's human rights."

He took refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual molestation, which he strongly denies.

He fears extradition to Sweden would be a pretext for him to be transferred to the United States to face trial over WikiLeaks' publication of classified US military and diplomatic documents.

Assange had previously exhausted all legal options in the English courts to avoid extradition.

He spoke of his anger at being stuck in the embassy in an interview with this week's Mail on Sunday, describing his life as "sometimes lonely and sometimes peaceful".

"My stubbornness is my best and my worst quality. I won't give up," he told the newspaper.

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