WikiLeaks' Assange due to appear amid standoff

Police officers stand outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London Aug. 19, 2012. / AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 8:37 a.m. ET

(CBS/AP) LONDON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange planned to make his first public appearance Sunday since he took refuge inside Ecuador's Embassy in London two months ago, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sexual misconduct allegations.

Embassy officials told CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata last week that they have repeatedly offered Swedish investigators opportunities to question Assange at the embassy, but those offers have been turned down.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, a WikiLeaks spokesman, said that Assange planned to speak later to mark the two month anniversary since he took refuge inside the Latin American nation's mission on June 19, but declined to provide details on what the activist intended to say.

Assange's appearance will provide his first comment since Ecuador on Thursday granted him diplomatic asylum, a move Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said was aimed at sheltering the 41-year-old Australian from any future attempt by the United States to prosecute the activist over his WikiLeaks work.

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Britain has said it will not grant Assange safe passage out of the U.K., insisting that it must follow the law and deliver him to Sweden on a binding European arrest warrant.

While Assange remains inside Ecuador's embassy — which is protected by diplomatic privileges — he is out of reach of British authorities.

If he steps foot outside the mission, he faces immediate detention by the dozens of British police who surround the building and are stationed inside a shared lobby.

A workman was seen Sunday preparing a large window at the embassy, prompting expectation that Assange would address supporters and television crews from a small balcony — which legally remains part of Ecuador's mission.

Ex-Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who is representing Assange, met with the activist inside the embassy and told reporters that the Australian remains determined.

"I have spoken to Julian Assange, and I can tell you that he is in fighting spirit. He is thankful to the people of Ecuador and especially to President Correa for granting him asylum," said Garzon. "He has always fought for the truth and justice, he has always defended human rights and will continue to do so. He demands that WikiLeaks and his own rights also be respected."

Garzon said that Assange had "instructed his lawyers to carry out legal actions to protect the rights of WikiLeaks, Julian himself, and all those who are currently being investigated," but did not offer any further explanation.

He also said that Ecuador could consider making an appeal to the International Court of Justice in the Hague in order to compel Britain to grant Assange safe passage out of the country.

Garzon is currently appealing his own conviction in Spain for overstepping his jurisdiction in a domestic corruption probe.

Assange shot to international prominence in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website began publishing a huge trove of American diplomatic and military secrets — including 250,000 U.S. embassy cables that highlight the sensitive, candid and often embarrassing backroom dealings of U.S. diplomats.

As he toured the globe to highlight the disclosures, two women accused him of sex offenses during a trip to Sweden.

Assange and his supporters claim the Swedish case is merely the opening gambit in a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the U.S. over his work with WikiLeaks — something disputed by both Swedish authorities and the women involved.

Correa said on his weekly broadcast that Ecuador had offered Assange refuge specifically because of the purported threat of a prosecution in the U.S. He said Ecuador "never wanted to impede the investigation of a supposed crime. What we wanted to impede is the extradition to a third country."

A Virginia grand jury is studying evidence that might link Assange to Pfc. Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who has been charged with aiding the enemy by passing the secret files to WikiLeaks and is awaiting trial. No action against Assange has yet been taken.

Hrafnsson said that supporters hope Sweden can be convinced to offer the activist an assurance that it would not agree to any future request by the U.S. to extradite Assange there.

"It would be a basis for negotiation for a solution if Sweden gave a guarantee," he said.

Lawyers say Sweden could not legally give such an assurance.

Tensions have risen between London and Quito over Assange, after Britain appeared to suggest it could invoke a little-known law to strip Ecuador's embassy of diplomatic privileges — meaning police would be free to move in and detain the activist.

Correa said that Britain's "direct threat" about possibly entering the embassy had come "in a totally offensive, inconsiderate, intolerable manner."

British diplomats accuse Ecuador of deliberately misinterpreting its attempts to explain its legal options. Foreign Secretary William Hague has said Britain is seeking an amicable solution to the standoff in talks with Ecuadorean officials.

[WiseAsOwl]

Hey, fella.. No sympathy.. I hope you get hung. You deserve it..

[abbe91]

B. Manning <-> W.M. Felt (aka "deep throat")
J. Assange <-> Woodward, Bernstein
W. Bush <-> R. Nixon (aka "I'm not a crook")

Other times, other technologies ...

[kamikrazee]

Assange is a coward hiding behind a principle that only applies when it is useful to him. He is not a hero, or a champion of freedom, he is an opportunist who seeks to elevate himself at the expense of individuals and nations.

I doubt that he could be convicted of much in the US, he did not steal anything, just published it.

He is afraid of being revealed as a rapist. Period.

[norulers]

A rapist? Because he didn't use a condom? One of his "victims" bought him breakfast the next morning, the other took him to a party.
There is nothing "opportunist" about publishing THE TRUTH!
Go back to your trailer park and brush your tooth. Then, find some government boots to lick.

[jechrist]

what has he gained by what he has done. "dirty little secrets" exposed by him were something we all could have realized were done whether he exposed them or not. if he is innocent in sweden let him go and get a fair trial and prove it. garnering attention has always been my belief for his "wikileeks"

[wmdmia]

It is not Sweden he is worried about. It is being taken from Sweden to the USA for trial and execution.

[TomMariner]

Aw! A guy who has killed and gotten thousands thrown into jail by his coy publication of stolen records, wants to protect his privacy and not tell his secrets in public court.

He should feel very lucky that he does not face the ultimate punishment for espionage that normally occurs in front of a bullet marred wall and involves a blindfold.

[wmdmia]

He should be considered a hero. He and his group have brought forth some truth about the illegal war crime by the United States of America under President George W. Bush. It is Bush and Cheney who should be brought to trial for the murder of tens of thousands of innocent people of Iraq.

[sneefa]

These people put themselves in that position another case of shoot the messenger an aloow the corrupt of the world to continue their lies and oppression. Truth is that the US military wants Assange for releasing footage of Americans killing journalists and children.

[vapnut]

Maybe a patriot will shoot him as he stands on the balcony and do us all a favor!

[norulers]

What a bootlicking slave you are. If that happens, slave boy, YOU AND YOUR ILK OR NEXT!!!!!!!!

[Tarzan98]

This will teach him to spill the US gov't's dirty little secrets....

[unclebernies]

England should stop being the little puppy dog of the US and backoff. Assange is a patriot to citizens of the world and his work has no boundries. If you don't like what he reports on then don't do illegal things to beging with.

[stonemirror]

"...don't do illegal things to beging with."

"Illegal things"...? Like sexually assaulting two women?

[velvet2112]

Excellent comment. Assange has let us what really goes on with the US government who think they rule the world. Well they go to another countries on grounds of human rights defence...Rubbish, garbbage, the US wiped out generations and generations of native indian American, where were their human rights, the war in Iraq under International was illegal and Blair, Bush and Aznar should be prosecuted for crime against humanity, there were no mass distruction weapons. How about all the soldiers that died for this... where are the trials for their human rights. USA the country that had apartheid and killed Martin Luther King again another Human Right defender, JFK defend the black people and we got rid of them both not convenient to be a human right defender in the US of A.
The country that states that they go around the world to fight for FREEDOM, what freedom has the American people, it is the Nation in the world that has got more legislation than any other to prevent people of doing this...Where is the freedom.
Congress member have immunity on inside trading, they make Law and have constant access to non public information and they arrive in congress earning USD140,000.00 and they leave multi millionaire with all the inside trading they do. Where is the freedom for all the American citizen to do the same, if a Congress member is allowed to do it what about the American people? where is the Freedom in your hamburger?
Bradley Manning is being held in American without trial what violation of his right to a trial and where is the freedom. You are being blind by a bunch of politician in the US, that do nothing for you they just there to make their pocket bigger.
12.5% or 34.5m people in the US live below the poverty line where is their right to live better? where is their freedom to do so?
18.9% of children or 13.5m children in the US live in poverty where is their rights to a better life, where is the freedom?
Children make out 39% of the poor in America and 26% of the total population where is their freedom to have food? when America gave 82.5m usd to UNHCR for the Syrian refugees????????? where is your freedom guys? in 2010 there are 16.3% of American without health insurance where is their right to get access to medical treatment under their Human Rights. Why is the US not part of the ICC so that they can not be trialed for their atrocities????? Why was AIG the only firm bailed out in the credit crunch and it was not a bank. My fellow American... the answer is because AIG is the company that manages the pension fund for Congress. Congress get inside trading free, good health insurance and good pension fund you all in the US need to go and work for Congress if you want to survive. The world is made of many countries and America is not ruling the world...they think they are...it is all in the head. El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido

[MIO42]

Does anybody really care or is this just a slow news day?