De Ecuadoriaanse ambassade wou Assange niet uitleveren aan Zweden, waar een vooronderzoek voor twee beschuldigingen van verkrachting liep.
Dit is wat de toenmalige minister van buitenlandse zaken van Ecuador over het niet uitleveren te zeggen heeft:
Events since have demonstrated that the British argument that Assange was “holed up” in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid facing sexual assault allegations in Sweden was deceitful. The case was always about Assange’s publishing activities as the head of WikiLeaks. In fact, my government had made it clear to both its British and Swedish counterparts that if Ecuador received guarantees of nonextradition from Sweden to the United States, Ecuador would have no problem with Assange traveling to Sweden to face questioning. Assange himself agreed to this. But Sweden refused to offer such guarantees, which obviously further heightened Ecuador’s suspicions that Assange was being persecuted.