(VOVworld) - France on Friday rejected a request for asylum by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for the reason that Assange does not present any immediate danger.

A supporter of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds a placard with his mouth during a gathering outside the Ecuador embassy in London, Britain June 19, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

A statement by President Francois Hollande’s office said France has received the letter from Mr. Assange. An in-depth review shows that in view of the legal and material elements of Mr Assange’s situation, France cannot grant his request. Le Monde daily earlier published an open letter by Assange to Hollande saying his life was in danger. Assange wrote he has been living for the past three years in Ecuador’s London embassy, where he took refuge to avoid extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes. The former computer hacker fears extradition to Sweden could lead to him being transferred to the United States to face trial over WikiLeaks' publication of classified US military and diplomatic documents. A criminal investigation is ongoing in the US into WikiLeaks' release in 2010 of 500,000 classified military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 diplomatic cables. WikiLeaks also accused the US of bugging leaders of many countries which harms the relations between the US and those countries.