WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is battling extradition to Sweden to face sexual misconduct allegations, is seeking asylum at the Ecuador Embassy in London.

Last week, Britain's Supreme Court dismissed Assange's attempt to reopen his rejected appeal against extradition to Sweden, declaring that removal proceedings against the Australian native could begin June 28.

Update at 8:34 p.m. ET: Assange's mother, Christine, has applauded her son's decision to seek asylum in a third-world country.

"I hope Ecuador will grant him asylum, and if not, another third-world country," she told the Australian Associated Press on Wednesday. "I hope the third world can stand up for what's morally right when the first world can't and won't because they've got their snouts in the trough, rolling over for U.S. greed and big business."

She said her son was a victim of decisions by the United States, Britain, Sweden and Australia to abandon proper legal process.

"Julian is a political prisoner, a journalist, a publisher of the truth about corruption, war crimes, kidnapping, blackmail and manipulation," she said. "He remains uncharged and unquestioned on a crime which, if you explore it, has absolutely no basis. Of course he would seek asylum."

She says the sex-crimes allegations are part of an effort to ultimately extradite her son to the United States, where he would face the death penalty for releasing diplomatic cables that exposed "U.S. greed and corruption."

Update at 8:09 p.m. ET: Time offers some speculation about why Assange chose Ecuador, whose populist president, Rafael Correa, expelled the U.S. ambassador after leaked diplomatic cables alleged he had knowledge of police corruption in his country:

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa—a populist firebrand whose thin-skinned response to the stolen cables' detailing police corruption in Ecuador prompted U.S. ambassador Heather Hodges' dismissal—has faced global criticism over his track record on free speech and could see in Assange just the character to help him restore some of his tarnished credentials. ...

Assange, who has produced a talk show from house arrest in London, interviewed Correa last month. He described him as "a left-wing populist who has changed the face of Ecuador" before a discussion of the country's relationship with the United States and the "corrupt" Ecuadorian media, the ABC reported.

Update at 7:4 1 p.m. ET: Assange's legal adviser met in May with an Australian attorney general to discuss the extradition, WikiLeaks says. WikiLeaks characterizes the attorney general's follow-up letter as "an effective 'declaration of abandonment,' refusing to protect Mr. Assange, or make any requests on his behalf."

The letter states that the Australian government is still providing consular services to Assange, a native son, and that the government "has made clear to the United Kingdom and Swedish Governments out expectation that due process will be followed."

Read the letter for yourself.

Update at 7:14 p.m. ET: Assange walked into the embassy in the Knightsbridge district of London and asked for asylum under the UN human rights declaration, The Guardian says.

"I can confirm I arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy and sought diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum," he said in a statement. "This application has been passed to the ministry of foreign affairs in the capital Quito. I am grateful to the Ecuadorian ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application."

Update at 4:35 p.m. ET: The Ecuadorian Embassy released this statement:

This afternoon Mr Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy seeking political asylum from the Ecuadorian government. As a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights, with an obligation to review all applications for asylum, we have immediately passed his application on to the relevant department in Quito. While the department assesses Mr Assange's application, Mr Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorian Government. The decision to consider Mr Assange's application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the Government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden.

Update at 3:55 p.m. ET: Last Thursday, Britain's Supreme Court dismissed Assange's attempt to reopen his rejected appeal against extradition to Sweden.

Assange has denied the sex-crime allegations, which he says are politically motivated because of WikiLeaks' revelations that have embarrassed Western governments.

Britain's top court said extradition proceedings could start June 28.

Update at 3:26 p.m. ET: Ecuador offered Assange residency back in November 2010, the BBC reported.

"We are open to giving him residency in Ecuador, without any problem and without any conditions," Deputy Foreign Minister Kintto Lucas said at the time. "We are going to try and invite him to Ecuador to freely present, not only via the Internet, but also through different public forums, the information and documentation that he has."

WikiLeaks said it had about 1,600 cables from the U.S. Embassy in Quito, the capital, that showed American diplomats spying on friendly countries. Lucas said his government was "very concerned" about the revelations.

Here's WikiLeaks' Ecuador file.

Original post by Douglas Stanglin:

Update at 3:07 p.m. ET: Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, confirms that Assange has taken refuge in the South American nation's embassy in London and is seeking political asylum, the Associated Press reports from Quito. He says Ecuador is weighing the request.

Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden after two women accused him of sexual misconduct during a visit to the country in mid-2010.

Update at 2:51 p.m. ET: "Ecuador is studying and analyzing the request," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino tells reporters in Quito, according to Reuters.

Britain's top court last week rejected a bid by Assange to reconsider his extradition to Sweden for questioning over alleged sex crimes.