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WikiLeaks’ Assange Promises Leaks on U.S. Election, Google | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Julian Assange makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, in central London, Britain Feb. 5, 2016. Peter Nicholls/Reuters


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised on Tuesday “significant” disclosures with around one million documents to be published in the coming weeks.

Assange said WikiLeaks plans to start publishing new material starting this week, but wouldn’t specify the timing and subject. He said the leaks include “significant material” on war, arms, oil, internet giant Google, the U.S. election and mass surveillance.

Assange announced the planned release schedule in a video address at the end of a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday morning, where the organization was celebrating its tenth anniversary.

WikiLeaks hopes “to be publishing every week for the next 10 weeks,” Assange said.

“There is enormous expectation in the United States,” Assange said of the forthcoming leaks.

“Some of that expectation will be partly answered; but you should understand that if we’re going to make a major publication in relation to the United States at a particular hour, we don’t do it at 3AM.”

WikiLeaks, which released Democratic National Committee emails days before the party’s national convention earlier this year, wouldn’t say who or what campaign would be affected by the upcoming U.S. election leaks, which Assange promised to publish before the elections.

Assange said speculation that he or WikiLeaks intend to harm Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is “false.”

Asked whether he feels any personal affinity with Clinton’s Republican rival, Donald Trump, Assange replied: “I feel personal affinity really, I think, with all human beings.”

“I certainly feel sorry for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump,” he added. “These are two people that are tormented by their ambitions in different ways.”

Assange said her campaign had falsely suggested that accessing WikiLeaks data would make users vulnerable to malicious software.

Assange also signaled changes in the way WikiLeaks is organized and funded, saying the group would soon open itself to membership. He said the group was looking to expand its work beyond the 100 media outlets it works with.

Assange, 45, remains in the Eucador Embassy in London where he sought refuge in 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he committed rape in 2010.

Assange denies the allegations and says he fears extradition to the United States, where a criminal investigation into the activities of WikiLeaks is underway.

He told a packed news conference at a Berlin theater the group’s work would continue, even if he had to resign in the future, and he appealed to supporters to fund the group’s work, and said several new books were forthcoming.

Assange said Britain’s vote to leave the European Union could complicate his case by limiting his ability to appeal to the European Court of Justice.

Asked how he felt after four years in the embassy, he said “pale” and joked he would be a good candidate for medical study since he was otherwise healthy but had not seen the sun in over four years.