Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was recently granted political asylum by officials in Ecuador and now he’s asking the US to stop its “witch hunt” against him.
Speaking on Sunday Assange said:
“I ask President Obama to do the right thing, the United States must renounce its witch-hunt against WikiLeaks.”
Assange has been held up in an Ecuador embassy since June 19 after walking onto the grounds of the building while on probation.
Julian Assange has long feared that after being sent to Sweden to face sexual conduct charges he will be extradited to the United States and charged with espionage, a charge that could bring with it the death penalty. Assange has long maintained that the United States has already secretly indicted him on all charges.
In the meantime the Foreign Office in Britain has refused Assange safe passage out of the UK, promising to arrest him should he step outside of the Ecuador embassy.
While Mr. Assange has spoken out against President Barack Obama he has had nothing but kind words for Ecuador, noting:
“I thank President Correa for the courage he has shown in considering and in granting me political asylum.”
Assange tells reporters that the Ecuador embassy has received at least one threat:
“On Wednesday night, after a threat was sent to this embassy, the police descended on this building. You came out in the middle of the night to watch over it, and you brought the world’s eyes with you.
“Inside this embassy in the dark, I could hear teams of police swarming up inside the building through its internal fire escape.
“But I knew there would be witnesses, and that is because of you.”
Assange’s legal team is attempting to defend his right to leave the country under Ecuador’s protection.
Here’s the Julian Assange Ecuador embassy speech:
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