Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has told a media summit that the US government has ordered Wikileaks to destroy all the material is has published on them and stop working with its sources in the government.
“[When we released our documents] the Pentagon said we must destroy everything we published and were going to publish,” Assange said. ”And if we didn’t, we would be ‘compelled to do so,’” the summit’s website says.
Assange made the allegation in the course of a speech made via Skype at the News 2011 Summit in Hong Kong. Reports say he is being forced by police to stop talking at the summit – exactly the kind of oppressive official action his work has been highlighting.
He was met with a storm of applause from journalists as he appeared on the screen.
Julian Assange is facing extradition from the UK to Sweden on rape charges. His defense believes the extradition could lead to their client facing prosecution in America for his involvement in WikiLeaks.
News executives and media owners from over 80 countries have gathered in Hong Kong for the summit to discuss editorial principles and tools as well as business models for news media. The summit, which started on Sunday, will last for four days.
Follow the latest updates from the Summit on Twitter with RT’s Ksenya Fyodorova.