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Michael Moore & Oliver Stone petition Ecuador to accept Assange asylum bid

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By John Glenday, Reporter

June 26, 2012 | 2 min read

A host of well-known celebrity campaigners have lent their backing to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his bid to win asylum in Ecuador by handing in a petition to the South American states London embassy – where Assange remains holed up.

Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky and Danny Glover all put pen to paper to write a letter to the embassy outlining their thinking alongside a petition signed by 4,000 Americans.

Their chief concern is that once Assange is extradited to Sweden (to face charges of sexual assault), there is a high likelihood that he would then be extradited to the US where he faces additional charges of under the Espionage Act – which carries the death penalty.

The letter concludes: “Because this is a clear case of an attack on press freedom and on the public's right to know important truths about US foreign policy, and because the threat to his health and well-being is serious, we urge you to grant Mr Assange political asylum."

Ecuador’s UK ambassador is currently holding talks with the Ecuadorean foreign ministry and president to decide whether to grant Assange’s application.

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