CRI听力:Assange Demands US Stop "Witch-hunt"

"Can you hear me?"--"Yeah!"

Speaking from a ground floor balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy, Assange thanked his followers both from the United States, the UK, Sweden and Australia, where the governments show no support, and from Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil and other Latin American countries, whose governments have strongly backed the Australian's position.

"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. And you brought the world's eyes with you. Inside this embassy after dark, I could hear teams of police swarming up into the building through its internal fire escape. But I knew there would be witnesses and that's because of you. If the UK did not throw the Vienna Convention the other night, it's because the world was watching."
Britain insists it would extradite Assange to face trial on alleged sex crimes in Sweden despite the Aussie's concern that he may be eventually handed over to the US to face the death penalty if tried on espionage charges.

"I ask President [Barack] Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch-hunt against WikiLeaks. The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow it will not seek to charge our staff or supporters. The US administration's war on whistleblowers must end."

Assange also called on the United States to release Bradley Manning, the American soldier who has been charged with aiding the enemy by passing secret files to WikiLeaks and has been awaiting trial for more than 800 days.

Monday marks two years since Swedish prosecutors first issued a warrant to arrest Assange.

Though denying the charge, Assange has indicated he would consider going back to Sweden to face trial if there is a guarantee that he would not be extradited to a third country.

But so far, neither Sweden, nor the U.S or Britain, has made any promise or statement on that.

The 41-year-old Australian received political asylum from Ecuador on Thursday, but was denied safe passage out of Britain. The British police have been stationed outside the Ecuadorian embassy in central London since Assange took refuge two months ago, in a bid to arrest him if he walked out of the embassy.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun reporting from London.