‘We should be giving Assange an honor, not arresting him’ – Ken Livingstone

Britain should be proud of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange for exposing the lies and smears peddled by America’s corporate interests, not arresting him, says former London mayor Ken Livingstone.

On the day Assange was sentenced by a British court to 50 weeks in prison for “violating bail conditions,” before facing an extradition hearing to Washington on Thursday, Livingstone told RT’s Going Underground that he should be given “an honor.”

The ex-Labour MP claims that the establishment do not want the 47-year-old Australian to get away with exposing the truth. He insists Britain should be doing its best to protect Assange from extradition to the US, adding that he believes UK courts will be reluctant to hand him over to officials stateside.

We should be proud of people doing that… we should be giving people like Assange an honor not arresting them and getting ready no doubt to extradite to the United States of America.

Assange has been charged with “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion,” after working with Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who obtained classified documents that were subsequently published through WikiLeaks.

The journalist spent 7 years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he had claimed asylum before being arrested and forcibly removed by British police on April 11.

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