SYDNEY: A decision on the fate of Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be made within 24 hours, Ecuador's deputy foreign minister Marco Albuja said on Thursday.
"We still can't make a final decision public yet until tomorrow," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"The national government is considering its position and the president will give us his instructions tomorrow."
Assange is seeking political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, having walked into the building on Tuesday in a dramatic bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for alleged sex crimes.
The request for asylum came after Britain's Supreme Court last week rejected an application by Assange to reopen his appeal against extradition, effectively closing his last legal avenue in Britain,
Assange, 40, denies the allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers and maintains the moves to send him to Sweden are politically motivated.
He believes the ultimate aim is for him to be handed over to US authorities. (AFP)