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Kerim Okten / EPA
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange addresses the media and supporters while British policemen stand outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Sunday.
Updated at 10:14 a.m. ET: LONDON -- From a second-floor window of his refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Sunday called on President Obama to release Bradley Manning, the United States intelligence analyst accused of leaking masses of confidential information.
In his first public appearance in two months, the former hacker thanked his supporters gathered outside the London embassy and appealed to the U.S. not to prosecute WikiLeaks staff and supporters.
From the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange asked the U.S. to "renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks." NBC's Duncan Golestani reports.
"I call on President Obama to do the right thing - renounce the witch-hunt against Wikileaks," he said in a provocative address in which he appeared to invoke the support of dozens of Latin American countries.
The U.S. administration’s “war on whistleblowers must end,” he said.
Ecuador on Thursday granted political asylum to the former computer hacker who 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.
Assange paid tribute to Manning, who is the suspected source of those leaks and faces 22 criminal charges which, if he is convicted, could land him in jail for life.
"If Bradley Manning did as he is accused, he is a hero and one of the world's foremost political prisoners," Assange said.
Investigators have determined that Manning allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of documents onto his own computer and passed them to an unauthorized person, but have not been able to make a link between those files and Assange.
Calling for US President Obama to "do the right thing," Wikileaks founder Julian Assange makes his first public statement since entering the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June to seek asylum. Watch his entire statement.
Assange spoke from a balcony at the embassy because Britain has made it clear it will arrest him the moment he steps out of the property.
The west London embassy is in a building shared with other tenants and has no vehicular access except via the street, meaning Assange could not even appear in the entrance hall without risking immediate arrest.
UK refuses WikiLeaks' Assange safe passage to Ecuador
With a police helicopter hovering overhead and protestors using megaphones, the international legal row over Assange's future has become a spectacle in what is an upscale area of London, just a few meters away from department store, Harrods.
The former hacker is wanted in Sweden for questioning regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault and Britain has said he will not be granted safe passage out of his Ecuadorean embassy refuge, which enjoys diplomatic status.
Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish jurist and prominent human rights investigator who heads Assange's legal team, was also expected to speak in a separate address outside the building ahead of Assange's appearance.
The United Kingdom is fighting the controversial decision and will not grant Julian Assange safe passage. NBC's Duncan Golestani reports.
A group of about 20 Assange supporters, many of whom have slept on sheets of cardboard outside the building since Wednesday, have decorated barriers with messages of support for Assange.
Army is pressed on why it kept trusting Manning
Assange's attempt to avoid extradition has provoked a diplomatic tussle between Britain and Ecuador, which said London had threatened to raid its embassy and cast the dispute as an arrogant European power treating a Latin American nation like a colony.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Why can't he man-up? Doesn't he have a pair? He is the dumbest person on the planet...
"Assange will be tortured, and, eventually, in the USA, he will be sent to Guantanamo to face more torture, and then the death penalty will be handed down upon him."
God willing...
Thanks Dick Cheney, that was pure inspiration....
Hey fruitcake.. I'm a card carrying liberal and take very seriously the release of documents that are classified and put our men and women in jeopardy because someone(or a group) doesn't like what we do. Foreign or domestic. We elect a president and representatives and senators to carry out the wishes of the people and guide foreign policy. I'm an American first. Democrats are as fierce about protecting this country as any other political group. The right doesn't have a corner on that market.
EricNSTL Hey fruitcake..
I'm your domestic enemy.
"I'm a card carrying liberal and take very seriously the release of documents that are classified and put our men and women in jeopardy because someone(or a group) doesn't like what we do."
What you do is damage and destroy the lives of others. You are steered by multinational corporations that pay you to do what you do. You a nothing but a grocery clerk and will be cut like one when the corporations are finished with you.
I spit in your face: "I'm an American first."
Real American aren't pawns in the government for corporate power moves. You are a pawn that is brainwashed.
When our tax dollars fund troops, and those troops are killing civilians and children in foreign countries that are not enemy combatants it's my F'kn business. (The Collateral Murder tape) passed to Wikileaks has proven this fact.
So F U - YOU EricNSTL - YOU ARE MY ENEMY - YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF TRUTH !
PICK UP YOUR WEAPON - LETS GET BUSY DYING !
A government cannot operate securely without a measure of secrecy in day-to-day operations. To expose it is an act of treason, and can only benefit the enemies of the government in question.
Look at Germany and Japan in WWII. They suffered significant defeats in certain battles, such as Midway, Leyte Gulf, The Battle of the Bulge, Normandy, Sicily, The Marianas Turkey Shoot, and Bastogne, to name a few, because the Allies were reading their communications, and knew their plans.
Bring that forward to 2012, and try to use the brain you have, and you will soon think of what the Taliban, Al Quaida, and other terrorist groups could do if they knew our procedures and operatives.
Oh, and try to be smart enough to not get taken in by your own celebrity, and use that to rape women.
Assange needs to be taken to trial, and executed for treason.
Case closed.
JA is not a US citizen so treason is out of the question. Now espionage is another matter.
Assange: "release" Romney's taxes
Does anyone care what this rapist has to say? And why do his supporters hide behind masks? Cowards?
I don't believe the charges.
He has no credibility. He is a common criminal using his celebrity status to try to avoid prosecution. When he surrenders for extradition to Sweden, he might regain some measure of credibility.
She (s) are no different than the maid in the New York Hotel event...Woman who scream Rape do it the same day not four years later....Even then it needs to be questioned and investigated...Just a clue women lie aboubt rape all the time making it very difficult for the real rapes to be taken serious. This is simply a convenient payoff.....I do not beleive anyone fours years later......
If you were anymore wrong, well, you couldn't be.
Most rapes go unreported. Whether it be shame, fear or denial, most women say nothing. Just look at the Sandusky case or all the molestation happening in the Catholic church. Most people keep silent about what happened to them.
In other words, you wouldn't believe them anyways. You are woefully wrong about this, but something tells me you couldn't care less, just so long as you can pretend most women lie about crimes against their bodies.
Deny, and divert attention.
Get the focus off your crimes.
Anyone else notice the eerie similarities between the way Manning and Assange have been treated and the way Putin's Russia has treated the girl punk band Pu_$ $y Riot for speaking their minds. Are we no better than ex-KGB Putin's Russia???? This whole situation is far more Un-American than anything Bradley Manning ever did.
Will someone PLEASE put this twit out of OUR misery!!!
Evidence exists there is a US secret indictment against Assange and will be extradited to the US for trial if he goes to Sweden. The Britt's are lapdogs of the US and he knows it will be a one way ticket to Guantanamo.
Corrupt governments fear nothing more than the truth.
Too much face to lose by relinquishing the witch hunt---that's the way governments work. Just look at China....
As much as I detest narcasistic @!$%#s like assange I think he did the US a favor by exposing the vunerabilities in or system. If he could obtain this info so can the governments who wish us ill.
I also have a great deal of difficulty in believing a left leaning government like sweden gives a damn wether or not we were offended by Assange. Why would they cooperate with the U.S. in getting even?
I agree with your first statement, Max. But not your second. After all, we currently have a left-leaning government of our own under the Obama administration.
He should have been shot when he stepped outside.
BTW, I've always pegged him as bisexual...
Assange is another low-life. Did he really think he could get away with releasing any nation's classified documents?
I guess he sees himself as a saint of some sort. He's really just the opposite. I'd like to see him go to Ecuador and start releasing their secrets. He'd probably be executed at sunrise.
Once again, you ask us to "man up" why can't you do the same? Grow a pair Assange or just shut the eff up! You are just a p--sy
I sentence him to life in the Ecuador embassy eating take out food....already done!
if he leaked sensitive document's of the u.s. and other country's,then we should burn his ass!!! and anybody who think's differently is a borderliner traitor!!!
What Assange really wants is advice from obama on how to leak classified information without the threat of prosecution!
Julian Assange is such a twit. He knew the consequences would be dire for Manning when he published classified documents. Set a fire and cry that nobody will help put it out.
The rape accusation is merely a ruse to try to have Assange arrested. He clearly did not rape anybody. Assange has embarrassed the U.S. elite/military and they want to punish him. Assange was just looking for fame and notoriety. He is a douchebag, but not a criminal.
The man I feel sorry for is Bradley Manning. He wanted to expose the cruel acts of the U.S. military and now he faces life in prison. He is in solitary confinement in prison right now. Is he a traitor or a hero? My vote says hero.
Linda,
If you know this to be fact, you should contact his defense solictor immediately.
JA commited espionage when he knowingly published classified documents. You honestly think it's OK to release names and locations of informers and people who aided the US in Afghanistan? How many people died because of his irresponsibility?
As far as PFC Manning goes, he is a traitor, coward with zero honor by leaking the information to JA. I hope he is punished to the UCMJ maximum. He deserves nothing less.
Linda, hate to break it to you, but the military has other ways of dealing with people who "embarass" them. If the military wanted to deal with this guy, there'd have been a sniper waiting for him. Using an East-bloc weapon.
As far as Manning goes? He's a traitor. Hopefully he'll be tried twice, which last I knew is perfectly legal in the US...once under the UCMJ (military law) and once under US Federal law (civilian law). Boy should die in prison.
tacky said: (bravo...great comment)
That is the crux of Julian Asange - he revealed the truth - not state secrets, but made some transparencies easier to see - if your only problem with him is the charges he faces in Sweden, you are missing the point! As Culheath said: the US President is not running the nation, the wars, etc... there are other powers at work.
Ecuadorean tradition for letting criminals stay in their country goes back to when wanted war criminals, Nazis, taking refuge in Ecuador.
How's the rice and beans at the Ecuadorean Embassy Julian? You know they eat guinea pigs in Ecuador too. Nothing like having all the conforts of home.
shoot the paper headed sob. end of story.
Wow! Is that really how your mind works?. You are the perfect result of American propaganda, why think when you can shoot?
SUper, I hope I never have to live near you...
I want to buy the book with all the leaks written in it...I pay taxes and want to know where my money is going "secretly"...