Assange to RT: ‘Civil behavior does not apply to Obama’ (PREVIEW)
As Ecuador considers taking Julian Assange’s case to the ICC, the purveyor of secrets gave an exclusive interview to RT’s sister Spanish channel. Assange shared his views on NSA and the future of freedom of information on Eva Golinger’s ‘Behind the News.’
RT’s sister channel Actualidad caught up with the WikiLeaks
founder in London. Assange shared his views on NSA scandal in
Latin America and the future of freedom of information.
The whistleblower, who was granted asylum by Ecuador last year
and since then been waiting in the country’s embassy in London
for safe passage, shared his thoughts on how WikiLeaks helped
saved Edward Snowden – the prominent NSA leaker – from a US
manhunt.
“We were involved in filling out the asylum requests for Edward
Snowden formally and informally for around 20 different nations.
Some because we thought there was a decent chance, others because
we wanted to show the public the refusals, to generate some
public debate and awareness how their government is
behaving,” Assange said.
“In terms of those nations that stepped forward, it was Latin
America and Russia, not all of Latin America either – Venezuela,
Bolivia and Ecuador showing a keen interest. “
“Whenever you see the President talk about exceptionalism what
he is trying to say is that rules of civil behavior do not apply
to him. Whether that is invading some other country or whether
that is abuse of laws at home,” Assange said.
The Australian native went on to criticize the US leadership
saying that the White House was abusing its power more than any
other administration in history.
“Barack Obama has prosecuted more people under the Espionage
Act, more journalistic sources under the Espionage Act than all
the previous presidents combined going back to 1917. In fact, he
has prosecuted double that number. This is a deliberate decision
by the White House to create a chilling effect using the
Espionage Act as opposed to some other mechanism.”
For more on Assange revelations tune in this Friday to RT to see
the full version of this interview, in which the journalist
recounts his experience after spending over a year in Ecuador’s
embassy in London.
