Edward Snowden and WikiLeak's are the Martin Luther King and Freedom Fighters or OUR Time

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks' decision to help U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden escape Washington's extradition attempts in Hong Kong has cemented the anti-secrecy group's reputation as a thorn in the side of the American and British governments.

In comments likely to infuriate Washington, WikiLeaks said it was escorting Snowden to Ecuador and had offered the support of its legal director Baltasar Garzon, a former Spanish judge known around the world for ordering the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Ecuador, which is already sheltering WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange at its London embassy, confirmed Snowden has sought political asylum although Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino did not say whether the request had been accepted.

"The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person," Garzon said in a statement. "What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people."

Frustrating U.S. attempts to extradite Snowden and put him on trial for the unauthorised release of secret surveillance files, WikiLeaks also sent one of its legal team to join him on a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow.

WikiLeaks said British legal researcher Sarah Harrison, one of Assange's closest advisers, had "courageously assisted Mr Snowden with his lawful departure from Hong Kong and ... in his passage to safety".

The campaign group gave no details about how it had helped to arrange the escape of one of the United States' most wanted men.

Advice came from Garzon, a high profile human rights campaigner who investigated corruption cases in Spain and opened an inquiry into alleged crimes under the right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, who died in 1975.

Since being kicked off the bench in Spain last year - when the Supreme Court found him guilty of illegal wiretapping in a political corruption case - he has spent most of his time outside Spain, advising on international law.

Garzon, who helped broker Assange's asylum in Ecuador's London embassy, was the dealmaker with Ecuador in the Snowden case, a source close to the WikiLeaks legal team told Reuters.

Another prominent legal figure who has represented Assange, the London-based barrister Geoffrey Robertson, was not directly involved in the Snowden case, the source added.