The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. January 12, 2018 Ecuador Grants Julian Assange Citizenship as Embassy Stalemate Continues ------------------------------------------------------------------------ British authorities have rejected a bid to allow Julian Assange safe passage from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, after Ecuador's foreign minister said he'd granted Assange citizenship. The move came as the minister said there were credible threats to Assange's life from third-party states. Assange first sought refuge and political asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in 2012, when he faced possible extradition to Sweden amid a sexual assault investigation that has since been dropped. Assange denies the allegations and calls the investigation a pretext for his ultimate extradition to the United States to face prosecution under the Espionage Act. .