WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stands by offer to be extradited to US following Chelsea Manning release
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has stood by his offer to go to the US now Chelsea Manning is being released.
The 45-year-old said last week that he would leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London if President Obama freed former US Army intelligence analyst Manning, who was jailed for 35 years for leaking documents relating to the Iraq war.
Speaking from the embassy where he is currently holed up over a rape allegation, he signalled via social media that there would be "many discussions" on his future before Manning leaves jail in May.
The transgender former intelligence analyst, born Bradley Manning, said she had passed on government and military documents to raise awareness about the impact of war.
Assange welcomed the outgoing president's decision to free the former soldier nearly 30 years early.
Asked whether he will now leave the embassy, he said: "I stand by everything I said, including the offer to go to the United States if Chelsea Manning's sentence was commuted. It is not going to be commuted until May - we can have many discussions to that point.
"I have always been willing to go to the United States provided my rights are respected."
Assange has been living under political asylum in the London-based embassy since 2012 after he sought refuge from a Swedish investigation into rape allegations.
It is unclear whether the US would actually look into extraditing Assange, but the controversial Australian insists he faces questioning over the activities of Wikileaks if he leaves the embassy.
He said during the press conference that there has been a seven-year long attempt to build a prosecution against him and WikiLeaks in the US, and his name is on several warrants and subpoenas.
"As of this year it is active and ongoing," he explained.
Asked why he has never gone to Sweden to be interviewed, the secret spiller pointed out he had never been charged "at any stage" and had already been cleared by the Swedish authorities in relation to the allegation.
He added that Sweden was refusing to guarantee that he would not be extradited to the US.
Wikileaks and Assange have moved closer to the US and president-elect Donald Trump has tweeted his approval of the Aussie.
When asked during the press conference about Trump, Assange said it "remains to be seen" whether he would receive different treatment from the billionaire's Department of Justice.
Assange, who denies the rape claims, was interviewed in the Ecuadorian embassy in November in front of Swedish prosecutors.
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