The anniversary comes as the US authorities are hot on the tracks of Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee responsible for leaking details of the National Security Agency's massive Internet surveillance program PRISM.
"Mr Snowden is as good an example of a hero as any. He has performed an extremely courageous act," Assange said lauding him for exposing America's "creeping mass surveillance state."
"What we don't want to see is him ending up the same way as Bradley Manning -- detained without trial, abused in prison and now facing life imprisonment."
While Assange is seeking to flee the UK, he believes "The British Government should be offering Mr Snowden asylum, not excluding him from their borders."
"I am sure if you asked the people of the UK what they wanted, they would be in favor of protecting Mr Snowden. The UK doesn't want to say no to the US under any circumstances -- not in my case, and not in the case of Mr Snowden," he continued.
If Snowden ever made his way to the single story mansion block just around the corner from Harrods department store, he might find more than one supporter.
"If he [Snowden] wants to ask asylum from the Ecuadoran government, he can do it," Patino said from London on Monday, "and we, of course, would analyze it."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
