Obama exploiting Arab Spring in campaign: Assange

Claims that Swedish sex case is part of Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in US over his work with WikiLeaks

I / United Nations September 27, 2012, 9:07 IST

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused President Barack Obama today of seeking to exploit the Arab uprisings for personal political gain, as he addressed a sideline meeting of the UN General Assembly via videolink from his hideout at a London embassy.

The Australian activist has sheltered inside Ecuador's embassy in London beyond the reach of British police since June 19, when he sought refuge after he exhausted all legal routes to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sex crimes allegations.

Assange and his supporters claim that the Swedish sex case is part of a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the United States over his work with WikiLeaks, which has published thousands of secret US diplomatic cables and other documents. Both Sweden and the US reject that claim.

At a sideline meeting organized by Ecuador, the activist attempted to draw parallels between himself and the instigators of the Arab Spring claiming that they had all been let down by Obama.

"It must come as a surprise to Tunisians for Barack Obama to say the US supported the forces of change in Tunisia," Assange said, speaking from Ecuador's tiny apartment-sized London mission.

He claimed that uprisings across the Arab world had been inspired, in part, by his organisation's disclosures about despotic rulers, including Tunisia's deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Assange claimed that Obama whose administration he accuses of building a criminal case against WikiLeaks and of harassing its staff was seeking to exploit the reforms of the Arab Spring during his reelection campaign.

"Mohamed Bouazizi did not set himself on fire so that Barack Obama could get reelected," Assange told the meeting, referring to the 2011 self-immolation by a Tunisian fruit vendor which sparked the uprising that toppled Ben Ali.

Assange, who made no reference to the Swedish sexual misconduct case as he addressed diplomats, also accused Britain and Sweden of failing to provide guarantees that he would not face extradition to the US to help preserve close military and intelligence links with Washington.

Both European nations insist that Assange must be sent to Sweden under international and European law, and that they cannot legally offer any pledges to refuse a possible future US extradition request.