The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Current affairsNews

Julian Assange accuses Obama of exploiting Arab Spring‏

Julian Assange accuses Obama of exploiting Arab Spring‏
27 September 2012
Zanib Asghar
Avatar
Zanib Asghar
27 September 2012

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accused US President Barack Obama of seeking to exploit the Arab uprisings for personal and political gain.

Assange addressed a fringe meeting of the United Nations General Assembly via video link from his embassy hide-out. The Australian activist is sheltered inside Ecuador’s embassy in London, beyond the reach of British police, as refuge after he exhausted all legal routes to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sex crime claims.

Assange claims the sex case is part of an orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the US over WikiLeaks, which published thousands of secret US diplomatic cables and documents. Both Sweden and the US deny that this is the case.

At the fringe meeting, organised by Ecuador, Assange drew 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.

He claimed uprisings across the Arab world were inspired by his organisation’s disclosures about despotic rulers, including Tunisia’s deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Assange also 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 re-election campaign.

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

Assange, who made no reference to the Swedish sexual misconduct case, 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 Assange must be sent to Sweden under international and European law and that they cannot legally offer pledges to refuse a possible future US extradition request.

Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa has granted asylum to Assange  who, if he were step outside the country’s London embassy, would be arrested by police surrounding the building. The case has left Britain, Ecuador and Sweden at a diplomatic impasse. Foreign ministers from Quito and London will meet today as Assange marks 100 days in the embassy.

Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino said he believed there were “many ways to achieve a solution” without specifying potential routes. However, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague remarked on Tuesday that he saw “no sign of any breakthrough” in the saga.

The Foreign Office said it was “committed to seeking a diplomatic solution” with Ecuador, but insisted that it was legally obliged to send Assange to Sweden.

Zanib Asghar

Related Items

More in Current Affairs

Women of Ireland have rolled over for long enough: The 8th and the long walk to abortion rights

Emma Kiely
Read More

Changes to expect during menopause

The editorial unit
Read More

Why Equity Linked Savings Schemes is a preferred tax saving?

The editorial unit
Read More

How the world’s top designers would rebrand political parties

The editorial unit
Read More

Royal baby furore: Proof that the British monarchy is still popular?

Eoin O’Sullivan-Harris
Read More

World Mental Health Day 2018: Raising awareness and combating stigma

The editorial unit
Read More

Seven political personalities you should know about

The editorial unit
Read More

Donald Trump: An enemy of the arts?

The editorial unit
Read More

Trump’s fortune: Where did the money come from?

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Ladies’ fashion: Seven wardrobe staples for summer
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Julius Caesar at Shakespeare’s Globe
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Operation Mincemeat at Riverside Studios
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Viagra Boys at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Buddhist on Death Row by David Sheff
    ★★★★★
    Literature
  • Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Road Dance
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Innocents
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Benediction
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Banter Jar at Lion & Unicorn Theatre: “An authentic and timely one-woman show”
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Operation Mincemeat at Riverside Studios
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Viagra Boys at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • “There’s something very tender if you reconnect with your parents when they’re falling into pieces”: Gaspar Noé on Vortex
    Cinema & Tv
  • Tool at the O2 Arena
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

David Cameron becomes first UK PM to star on Late Show with David Letterman‏
Research shows NHS may get worse after reorganisation