From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Assange willing to return to US following Manning commutation
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleWikileaks founder Julian Assange says he is willing to stand by his offer to return to the US once the sentence of the American soldier who passed classified documents to his organization is freed from jail.
President Barack Obama commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence earlier this week, and she will be freed in May.
“I stand by everything I said including the offer to go to the United States if Chelsea Manning’s sentence was commuted,” Assange says during a live Q&A session on Periscope.
He says, however, that Manning will not be released until May, adding that, “We can have many discussions to that point.”
Assange has been claiming refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London since 2012, arguing that Swedish efforts to extradite him over a rape accusation would lead to him being handed over to the US.
The Times of Israel Community.