Wikileaks founder makes first public statement

Julian Assange
Wikileaks founder

Wikileaks founder makes first public statement

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has made his first public statement since entering the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June to seek asylum.

He called on the US President Barack Obama to do the right thing and for his government to renounce its witch hunt against Wikileaks.

"As Wikileaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our societies. We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America,” he said.

"Will it return to and re-affirm the revolutionary values it was founded on or will it lurch off the precipice, dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark,” Assange asked.

Mr Assange spoke from a balcony at the embassy and thanked Ecuador's president, for granting him asylum.

His expected appearance comes as foreign ministers from various South American countries gather in Ecuador to discuss his fate.

He faces extradition to Sweden over sexual assault claims, which he denies.

His lawyer, Baltasar Garzon called earlier for him to be given safe passage to Ecuador from Britain.

"Mr. Assange is going to continue fighting for his rights," human rights lawyer Baltasar Garzon declared, saying that Assange had instructed his legal team to take action.

Assange claims Sweden will in turn transfer him to the United States, where he could face the death penalty for the work of WikiLeaks.

Assange says the charges in Sweden are politically motivated and tied to the work of his website, which facilitates the publication of secret documents.

He has published hundreds of thousands of pages of American government diplomatic cables and assessments of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy after the UK's Supreme Court dismissed his bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.

BBC/CNN/Ibisaki/Hajia Sani