Quito, July 30 (RHC)-- The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will meet with Ecuadorian authorities Monday to urge them to grant her son asylum.  Christine Assange, who arrived in the capital city Quito over the weekend, told reporters she will appeal to Ecuador's stance on human rights during her meeting.

Christine Assange said that she is sure that President Rafael Correa "will make the best decision," noting that her son has been staying at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since applying for political asylum on June 19th.

He is seeking to avoid being sent to Sweden over claims of rape and sexual molestation and said he fears if he is extradited there, Swedish authorities could hand him over to the United States.  Christine Assange told reporters in Quito that if her son is sent to the United States, he "could expect a sentence of death or many years in prison with torture as they are doing now with Bradley Manning."  She said that if U.S. authorities did that to a U.S. citizen, "they would have fewer qualms about doing it to a foreigner."

Manning is a U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military and State Department documents while serving in Iraq.  Many of those documents ended up on the WikiLeaks website.  He is being held on charges of aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet, transmitting national defense information and theft of public property or records, among others.  If convicted, Bradley Manning could face the death penalty or go to prison for life. 

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