Julian Assange promises to release new material every week on Wikileaks, for next 10 weeks

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced at a press conference on Tuesday that his platform will release new material in the coming months. It is planned to publish new material every week in the next ten weeks, Xinhua news agency quoted Assange as saying in a live video broadcast to Berlin on the 10th birthday of WikiLeaks. The new releases will cover the themes such as oil, weapons and corporations like Google, according to Assange. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks also wants to publish new details for the US election, but left the exact date open. However, WikiLeaks is working on publishing the material before the election date on 8 November, said Assange. The upcoming publications were “of significant importance for the elections”, the 45-year-old Australian said in response to a question whether the new information “will destroy the Democratic presidential candidate”. With a view to the 10th anniversary of the founding of WikiLeaks, Assange emphasised that despite all the hostility of “powerful opponents”, the website is still well positioned. “We have a strong position, we are debt-free and completely independent,” he said. “The attacks only make us stronger,” Assange said, “We believe in what we do, and when we are put under pressure, we will fight back.” WikiLeaks has published hundreds of thousands of secret documents over the past few years, including the US military’s actions in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Australian, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012, claimed that Sweden intends to hand him over to the United States, where he may face espionage charges for leaking thousands of secret US diplomatic cables and, if convicted, could be given a death penalty. IANS