Assange to go to US only if rights guaranteed
WikiLeaks said Wednesday its founder Julian Assange could travel to the US to face investigation after one of the whistleblowing site's main sources was given clemency -- but only if his rights were "guaranteed".
"Assange is still happy to come to the US provided all his rights are guaranteed," WikiLeaks said on Twitter, the day after US President Barack Obama commuted a prison sentence for former soldier Chelsea Manning.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years behind bars in 2013 for handing 700,000 sensitive military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. The White House said her sentence would end on May 17 this year.
Assange said last week he would abandon his refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, where he has been since 2012, if the United States agreed to free Manning.
Washington has maintained the threat of prosecuting Assange over the 2010 documents leak, although no charges have been publicly filed.
Assange has been living in the Ecuadoran embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations, which he says are politically motivated and intended as a stepping stone to extradite him to the US.
meanwhile, former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has legal right to become a Russian citizen after he was given leave to remain in Russia for another three years. Snowden's residence permit has been extended "until 2020," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told AFP.
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