Rev. Jesse Jackson pays visit to WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange in London embassy

LONDON _ American civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson has visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where the Australian has been living for over three years.

The Chicago-based Jackson spent over an hour talking with Assange Friday, and the pair appeared together on the balcony of the embassy building.

Assange, 44, sought sanctuary in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. He has not been formally indicted, but is wanted there for questioning on rape allegations.

Assange has refused to travel to Sweden, saying he fears it would lead to him being extradited to the United States because of an investigation into WikiLeaks’ dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents.