QUITO, ECUADOR—Ecuador denied a report on Tuesday that it had granted amnesty to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the country’s foreign minister said only he and President Rafael Correa could make the decision.

Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for the past eight weeks to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.

The former computer hacker, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, says he fears he could be sent to the United States, where he believes his life would be at risk.

Correa has said a decision on Assange’s application is likely before the end of this week and that he will meet his foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, on Wednesday to discuss the case.

However, Britain’s Guardian newspaper cited unnamed Ecuadorean government officials as saying amnesty will be granted. The report brought a swift response from Correa.

“The rumour about Assange’s asylum is false. A decision has not yet been made on the issue. I’m waiting for the foreign ministry’s report,” he said on his Twitter account.

Patino also criticized the report by the Guardian.

“Anonymous sources are useless. Only the president and myself will make the decision . . . there’s nothing yet,” he said.

Earlier, Patino told Reuters that Ecuador was pondering not only whether to give Assange asylum, but also how he might avoid arrest in Britain should he try to head to South America.

By diplomatic convention, British police cannot enter the embassy without Ecuador’s approval. But Assange has no way of boarding a plane to Ecuador without passing through London and exposing himself to arrest.

Leftist Correa, a self-declared enemy of “corrupt” media and U.S. “imperialism,” said he sympathizes with Assange but also respects the British legal system and international law.

The British government has made it clear to Ecuador that it is determined to extradite Assange to Sweden, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Roger Gherson, a lawyer and expert on British immigration law and related human rights issues, said a grant of asylum by Ecuador would not protect Assange from being sent to Sweden.

“It’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card for any conduct anywhere in the world,” Gherson told Reuters.

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Earlier, a WikiLeaks spokesman said Assange was unaware whether he has been granted asylum by Ecuador.

“I cannot confirm. I just spoke to him (Assange) and he said he had not been notified either,” said WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson.

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