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Assange Denounces Australia, Sweden, after Asylum Bid
[An Nahar] WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lashed out at Australia and Sweden on Friday as he spoke for the first time since turning up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London requesting political asylum.The former computer hacker told Australia's ABC radio of his fears that he would end up in the hands of the United States, which he says want to try him for divulging American secrets. But he conceded there was as yet no current U.S. indictment against him. "Of course not, at the moment the matter is before the grand jury," he told ABC. "Until it comes out of the grand jury there will not be such evidence afforded." Assange sought asylum on Tuesday in a dramatic bid to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault. He made the bid, he said, because he was not prepared to go to Sweden under the terms in which he believed he would be held there. "The Swedes announced publicly that they would detain me in prison, without charge, while they continued their so-called investigation," he said. "We had heard that the Ecuadorians were sympathetic in relation to my struggles and the struggles of the organization with the United States..." WikiLeaks enraged Washington by releasing a flood of classified U.S. information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as more than 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables that embarrassed a slew of governments. Assange said he chose the Ecuadorian embassy ahead of his home country's because he felt Canberra had done nothing to protect him, a charge the government has denied. "There are serious issues here, and they are being hidden by the slimy rhetoric coming out of the U.S. ambassador to Australia, via (Australian Prime Minister Julia) Gillard... and that needs to stop," said Assange. Assange will remain inside the embassy while Ecuador considers his request, a process that could take "hours or days", a front man for the whistleblower website said Thursday. Earlier, Ecuador's president Rafael Correa said his government would take its time in deciding whether to grant asylum to the Australian anti-secrecy campaigner. British police said on Wednesday that because he was no longer staying at his designated bail address, Assange had breached his bail conditions and was now subject to arrest if he left the embassy. Posted by: Fred 2012-06-23 |
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