‘Assange believes in his work & that keeps him going’ – WikiLeaks editor

It’s difficult for whistleblower Julian Assange to live in a situation where he currently is, but he believes in his work and remains strong, said WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison.

RT: Mr. Assange has said that the expected leaks about the US elections should allow people to know who they are voting for. How damaging can we expect these documents to be for Hillary Clinton, or the other Presidential candidates?

Sarah Harrison: We don’t talk about specific stories from upcoming publications. There are definitely a number of interesting revelations in it that will be coming out. Yes, we very much believe our work is about informing the public and ensuring that they have access to that information, so they can understand the world around them. That of course includes their leaders and being able to elect a leader fully understanding how they operate is, we believe, very important.

RT: Yesterday Mr. Assange was due to make an announcement supposedly about these leaks from the balcony of Ecuadorian embassy. He canceled that because of security concerns. What is it like working under the kind of pressures that you do?

SH: Yes, it is something that we’ve got used to at this organization. Ever since I joined in 2010 we have been subject to surveillance. It has heightened as time has gone on. And Julian is in the very difficult situation, where he is in a very small place in one building that is surrounded by surveillance – some overt, some covert, and it is clearly a constant presence.

We’ve had to become very technically good to be able to work around this. Luckily we’re an organization with technical expertise – at its core. So we do employ a lot of those. But it is a struggle, and we are a media organization just like any other, and we should have the protections they are afforded as well.

RT: Just a couple of days ago we’ve seen these reports that Clinton allegedly said that Assange could just be ‘droned.’ How serious is the threat to his life if he wasn’t in the embassy, and indeed you and your colleagues’ lives working on such sensitive issues?

SH: I think for me the threat is predominantly about any of my information or anything about me used to try as inroads to try to get something for a case against Julian. You could see that when my old personal e-mails were subpoenaed – there was clearly nothing of interest in them, but were really trying to get Julian Assange. It is difficult for him, to be in this situation. But he believes in the work that he is doing, and he keeps strong with that keeping him going.