France Rejects Asylum Request from Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange

The French government rejected an asylum request by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange saying he did not face "immediate danger."

Assange who is holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London had written an open letter to the French President seeking asylum and said that he was being "pursued and threatened with death by the US authorities because of my professional activities".

"France cannot act on his request," President François Hollande's office said. "The situation of Mr Assange does not present an immediate danger. Furthermore, he is subject to a European arrest warrant."

The Australian activist who recently turned 44, wrote in his open letter to Hollande, "I have never been formally charged with an offence or a common crime, anywhere in the world, including Sweden and the UK."

Assange had also raised the issue of US wiretapping Hollande and two of his predecssors when his organization released related documents last week.

"The scale of the scandal and the reactions that followed our latest revelations confirmed the legitimacy of our approach," he wrote.

"These revelations were made at the risk of our lives."

Assange also went on to point out that he had not seen his youngest child or the child's mother - both French - for five years.

"I have had to keep their existence secret up to today in order to protect them," he wrote.

Assange has spent his last 3 years at the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault by two women.

 He fears that the extradition could lead to him being transferred to the US where he might face trial for the publication of classified military and diplomatic documents.