Assange quizzed by prosecutors

Prosecutors were questioning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadoran embassy in London yesterday, the latest twist in the long-running legal battle over a rape allegation against him.

Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren, due to be present while Assange faced a grilling by an Ecuadoran prosecutor, entered the embassy behind the famous Harrods department store shortly before 1000 GMT, an AFP photographer said.

Assange's lawyer Per Samuelsson said the questioning is expected to last several days at the embassy where the founder of the secret-spilling website has been holed up for four years, refusing to come out over fears he could be extradited to the United States.

"I am very hopeful," Samuelsson told Sweden's TT news agency. "Objectively, there is no doubt that everything happened as Assange said it did."

Assange sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 after Sweden sought his arrest over allegations of rape and sexual assault. He has always denied the claims, saying they were politically motivated.

The former computer hacker insists his sexual encounters with the two women, who he met on a 2010 trip to Sweden, were consensual.