The Telegraph said that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, is under protection in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London after he sought political asylum following his failed bid to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.

His dramatic move came after he lost a long-running legal bid earlier this month to halt his extradition to Sweden, where he is accused of the sex attacks by two former volunteers. 

The 40 year-old Australian is due to be extradited in just nine days.