WikiLeaks’ Assange to address UN on asylum

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has dismissed Julian Assange’s attempts to try and address the United Nations via video from his Ecuadorian refuge in London as a “stunt”.

Mr Carr said there would be no interest at the high level summit in hearing from Mr Assange when asked if it was a sideshow.

“He has every right to do that but that is a matter between him and Equador,” Mr Carr told media.

“I wouldn’t think there’d be a great deal of interest in it in what is a legal dispute between Mr Assange and Sweden,” Mr Carr told media.

“I wouldn’t think there would be any resonance for his case in a UN forum devoted to weightier and more substantial matters than the desire of Sweden to have him answer questions in Sweden about allegations of a criminal matter.”

Mr Carr went on to say Australia was continuing to assist Mr Assange.

“We’ve continued to provide consular assistance,” he said. “We continue to search for the letter that his counsel said he sent us. The High Commission in London says they never received it and has sought on six occasions to have his counsel provide a copy without success. But that is a matter between him and Equador.”

Ecuador says it has invited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to address a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly via a videolink from his refuge in the country’s London embassy.

Assange will speak today alongside Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino at a specially convened event to discuss his asylum case.

The Australian activist is seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sex crimes allegations and has been sheltered inside Ecuador’s embassy in London – beyond the reach of British police – since June 19.

Ecuador has granted Assange asylum, but he will be arrested if he steps foot outside its mission.

British Foreign Secretary Wiliam Hague said Tuesday that talks are continuing about Assange’s fate, but that there is “no sign of any breakthrough.”