New York:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday said US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton should resign if it were proved that she ordered espionage to be carried out in the United Nations, in violation of international agreements.
Assange told Time magazine that Clinton should resign "if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering US diplomatic figures to engage in espionage activities at the United Nations in violation of the international covenants to which the US has signed up."
The White House said his statements "are both ridiculous and absurd" and US diplomats do not engage in spying.
Assange's secret-spilling group has leaked a series of confidential US intelligence and diplomatic reports this year, including the disclosure earlier this week of hundreds of classified State Department cables.Clinton said she discussed the leak with her colleagues at a security summit on Wednesday in Kazakhstan and said the revelations will not hurt American diplomacy - despite unflattering descriptions of some foreign leaders contained in some of the cables.
In the interview with
Time Magazine, Assange also warned that more leaks would follow, this time concerning banks and other multi-national corporations. He said the forthcoming material will be thousands of documents, many more than previously available.
US officials have reacted with outrage to the leaks, with Clinton accusing WikiLeaks of acting illegally and promising "aggressive steps to hold responsible those who stole this information." On Wednesday police ratcheted up the pressure on Assange, asking European officers to arrest him on rape charges.
The 39-year-old Australian computer hacker disappeared from public view after a November 5 press conference in Geneva. He has spoken publicly only through online interviews, while a statement from his lawyer said the Australian was being persecuted by Swedish officials who are seeking his arrest on sex crime charges.
Sweden's Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny said that a European arrest warrant had been issued for Assange in connection with the allegations. London-based lawyer Mark Stephens complained that Assange had yet to receive formal notice of the allegations he faces - something he described as a legal requirement under European law. Stephens was scathing in his condemnation of Ny, saying he'd never come across a prosecutor who has "such casual disregard" for her obligations.
"Given that Sweden is a civilised country, I am reluctantly forced to conclude that this is a persecution and not a prosecution," Stephens wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Ny's office said that "for secrecy reasons, she cannot give more information concerning this matter at the moment," while Scotland Yard and Britain's Serious and Organised Crime Agency, which processes European warrants, also declined comment.
Assange is wanted on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. The exact nature of the allegations isn't completely clear, although Stephens has in the past described them as a part of "a post-facto dispute over consensual, but unprotected sex."Swedish prosecutors have disagreed about whether to label the most serious charge as rape.
Formal charges have not been filed, but a detention order was issued at Ny's request on November 18 remains in force pending an appeal by Assange. The case is now before Sweden's Supreme Court, which will make a decision Wednesday or Thursday. Assange's lawyer, Stephens, who also represents The Associated Press, said he was investigating whether the Swedish case was linked to US promises to prosecute those behind the leaks.