Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on August 19, 2012. (AFP photo)
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, has made his first public appearance in two months and addressed a crowd of supporters that had gathered from inside the embassy. He thanked his supporters and especially the Ecuadorian government for granting him political asylum.
Assange in his speech urged the United States to 'end its witch hunt' against WikiLeaks. He also called for the release of US soldier Private Bradley Manning who is charged with leaking classified information from Iraq to WikiLeaks. Manning has been in custody since May 2010.
Citing the recent jailing of punk rock band Pussy Riot in Russia for criticizing Putin, he said, "There is unity in the oppression. There must be absolute unity in the response."
Assange had been fighting extradition from UK to Sweden on rape charges as he feared that Sweden will extradite him to the US where he is a wanted man for revealing classified information on the WikiLeaks website.
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