WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Sunday accused the British police of attempting to storm the mission last week in a bid to spirit him away to Sweden in defiance of the Vienna Convention.<\/p>\n
He made a dramatic appearance on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, <\/p>\n
In his firststatement in two months, he also asked the US government to call off a “witch-hunt” against the whistleblowing website that has angered Washington by publishing secret diplomatic cables.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old Australian, who faces allegations of rape and sexual harassment in Sweden, fears Stockholm may extradite him to the US, where, in his view, he would face persecution and long-term imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Speaking from within the London mission to avoid arrest by the British police, who have surrounded the building, Assange said, “The United States war on whistleblowers must end.”<\/p>\n
“On Wednesday night after a threat was sent to this embassy and police descended on this building you came out in the middle of the night to watch over it,” Assange told hundreds of free-speech campaigners and journalists at Knightsbridge, where the embassy is located on the first floor of a block of luxury flats.<\/p>\n
“Inside this embassy after dark I could hear teams of police swarming up into the building through its internal fire escape. <\/p>\n
If the UK did not throw away the Vienna Convention\u2026 it was because the world was watching\u2026”<\/p>\n
The convention protects foreign embassies and diplomats from host governments.<\/p>\n
But, in what has been widely seen as a threat, British officials last week spoke of a 1987 law that allows them to de-recognise a diplomatic building.<\/p>\n
Foreign minister William Hague has denied the allegation.<\/p>\n
Assange jumped bail on June 19 to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy following which Quito offered him political asylum.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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