Assange calls Obama's reforms to 'snooping' laws 'victory of sorts' for Snowden

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called the new measures announced by US President Barack Obama to alter the legislation governing the surveillance programs as a 'victory of sorts' for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

According to the Huffington Post, Assange said that despite the fact the Obama considers Snowden guilty of three felonies and not a 'patriot', it was because of Snowden that the citizens got to know about the alleged programs and pushed for action from the government.

Assange further said that as Snowden's biggest concern was blowing the whistle and seeing no reform has been addressed to, the President and the people in the US and around the world owe the whistleblower a debt of gratitude.

He further accused the Obama administration of hypocrisy over the issue of whistleblowers and political asylum and said that the president who advocated for whistleblowers and called for their support during his 2008 campaign, yet his administration has prosecuted twice as many whistleblowers than all other administrations combined.

The report added Assange saying that America has earlier offered asylum to dissidents, whistleblowers and political refugees without any regard to opposition from other governments, yet when today Russia has offered him a temporary asylum, all hell seems to break loose.