She also took the opportunity to advise Ms Robinson that "should Mr Assange be convicted of any offence in the United States and a sentence of imprisonment imposed, he may apply for an international prisoner transfer to Australia''. Mr Assange's lawyers characterised Ms Roxon's reply as a ''declaration of abandonment''.Some of Mr Assange's closest associates first learnt of his decision to seek political asylum when journalists rang them seeking comment overnight after the WikiLeaks publisher formally sought the protection of the Ecuadorean government in London. "I didn't know about it, it came as a complete shock," one of Mr Assange's small WikiLeaks team told Fairfax Media. Earlier, Mr Assange said in a short statement: ''I can confirm that today I arrived at the Ecuadorean Embassy and sought diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum. This application has been passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the capital Quito. ''I am grateful to the Ecuadorean ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application.''

Mr Assange failed last week to persuade the British Supreme Court to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden to be questioned about sexual assault allegations. Mr Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, has expressed grave fear that extradition to Stockholm will facilitate his ultimate extradition to the US on espionage and conspiracy charges relating to the alleged leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents. The Ecuadorean embassy said that while Mr Assange's application for asylum was assessed he would remain "under the protection'' of the Ecuadorean 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," the embassy said in a written statement. The Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry also issued a statement that said Mr Assange's application for asylum referred to a "regrettable factual statement of abandonment" by the Australian government that made "it impossible to return to my home country and put me in a state of helplessness to be requested for questioning by the Kingdom of Sweden ... and investigation for political crimes in the United States of America, a country where the death penalty for such offences is still in force".

Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Prime Minister Julia Gillard have repeated that the Australian government "has no evidence" of any US intention to charge and extradite Mr Assange, though Ms Gillard added the qualifying words "at this stage" in answer to a parliamentary question from Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt. Ms Gillard and acting prime minister Wayne Swan said today that Ms Assange's asylum application was "a matter for him" and repeated that he would continue to receive what they described as "full consular support". Fairfax Media has now confirmed that the Australian Federal Police actively considered recommending cancellation of Mr Assange's passport when the government was considering its response to WikiLeaks's release of classified US diplomatic cables in November 2010. Released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under freedom of information legislation, the partially redacted minutes of the Australian government's WikiLeaks taskforce recorded on 30 November 2010 that "the AFP is currently assessing options for any legal action it may be able to take on this matter". Further details have been redacted on national security grounds. The AFP subsequently concluded that Mr Assange and WikiLeaks had broken no Australian laws by publishing classified US government documents.

A copy of the WikiLeaks taskforce minutes released by the Attorney-General's Department includes an additional sentence, apparently accidentally not redacted, that indicates the AFP was considering "the possibility of cancelling Mr Assange's passport, though it would be rare in these circumstances''. National security sources have told Fairfax Media that an AFP recommendation for cancellation of Mr Assange's passport on national security grounds was overtaken by the WikiLeaks publisher's arrest in London in connection with Sweden's extradition request and the seizure of his passport by British police. Then foreign minister Kevin Rudd said that he never received a request to cancel Mr Assange's passport and former attorney-general Robert McClelland said such action could have been "counterproductive" to efforts to track Mr Assange's movements and in any case proved to be "irrelevant." Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told a news conference yesterday that Mr Assange had argued that "the authorities in his country will not defend his minimum guarantees in front of any government or ignore the obligation to protect a politically persecuted citizen". In late 2010, Ecuador offered Mr Assange residency but quickly rescinded the offer after controversy erupted and the US government reportedly made diplomatic representations against such action.

Earlier this month, WikiLeaks released an interview between Mr Assange and Ecuador's left-wing President, Rafael Correa, for Mr Assange's television program The World Tomorrow. President Correa applauded the transparency brought about by WikiLeaks' release of US diplomatic cables as being beneficial for Ecuador, saying "we have nothing to hide. If anything, the WikiLeaks [releases] have made us stronger". Last December, Fairfax Media obtained the release under freedom of information of Australian Embassy cables that in December 2010 reported from Washington to Canberra that WikiLeaks was the target of an "unprecedented" US criminal probe and that media reports that a secret grand jury had been convened in Alexandria, Virginia, were ''likely true''. The released cables show that the Australian embassy in Washington confirmed from US officials that the US Justice Department was conducting an ''active and vigorous inquiry into whether Julian Assange can be charged under US law, most likely the 1917 Espionage Act''. Australian diplomats asked for advance warning if any US extradition moves ''so that ministers could respond appropriately'' to media and public inquiries.

In the event Ecuador grants Mr Assange asylum, any movement outside the Ecuadorean Embassy would be subject to negotiation and agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Ecuador. Should his application be rejected, he would be most likely be arrested once he left the embassy and his extradition to Sweden would proceed.