LONDON, (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange berated the United States yesterday from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy where he has sought refuge from arrest, challenging President Barack Obama to end what he called a witch-hunt against his whistle-blowing website.
Speaking from within the London mission to avoid being detained by British police who want to extradite him to Sweden for questioning over rape allegations, Assange said the United States was fighting a war against outlets like WikiLeaks.
Pitching himself alongside Russian punk band Pussy Riot and the New York Times newspaper, Assange said the United States risked shunting the world into an era of journalistic oppression. He did not mention the rape allegations.
“As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of all of our societies,” Assange said, dressed in a maroon tie and blue shirt, flanked by the yellow, blue and red Ecuadorean flag with dozens of British policemen lined up on the pavement below.
“I ask President Obama to do the right thing: the United States must renounce its witch-hunt against WikiLeaks,” Assange said in a 10-minute speech which he ended with two thumbs up to the world’s media.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a self-declared enemy of “corrupt” media and U.S. “imperialism”, granted the former computer hacker political asylum last week, deepening a diplomatic standoff with Britain and Sweden.
Asylum in Ecuador marked the latest twist in a tumultuous journey for Assange since he incensed the United States and its allies by using his WikiLeaks website to leak hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic and military cables in 2010, disclosures that often embarrassed Washington.
Assange, 41, took sanctuary in the embassy in June, jumping bail after exhausting appeals in British courts against extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted in Sweden for questioning regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault against two women.
