London – Wikileaks Founder, Julian Assange on Wednesday, blamed Britain for the deadlock that has kept him in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for two years now.
In a conference call, Assange claimed that Britain “unilaterally” cancelled a working group set up to break the impasse between London and Quito.
The group was set up last year after Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patino met with his British counterpart William Hague to end the diplomatic stand-off.
He accused Britain of calling off the working group after Russia granted asylum last year to U.S. whistleblower, Edward Snowden, whom Assange had helped.
Assange, an Australian national, took refuge in the embassy after Sweden attempted to extradite him to face questioning over his alleged sexual assault of two women.
He said he had consensual sex with the women and fears that Sweden may allow him to be taken to the U.S. to face charges relating to the leaking of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks.
Ecudaor had since granted him political asylum.
Swedish investigators have declined his request for them to question him in the embassy, which British police have under 24-hour surveillance at a reported cost of 10 million dollars.
Assange also said that the U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder should drop its investigation against him.
Jennifer Robinson, a Legal Advisor to Wikileaks, said that next week, a letter from more than 30 free speech campaign groups would be sent to Holder urging him to “close down” his investigation.
When asked how he was dealing with his confined life, Assange said that other people were in worse positions.
This he said included Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. army private jailed for 35 years for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks.
Although he claimed to have been supporting Ecuador in the World Cup, but Assange said, reception in the embassy, located in London’s wealthy Knightsbridge area was poor.
“Perhaps that makes it difficult for the bugs to travel through the walls as well,” he said.
– dpa/NAN