WikiLeaks not financially endangered: Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Latin American media that his organization was far from financially endangered despite sanctions slapped on it by the United States.

Purportedly "our biggest problem is an economic problem related due to that US banking and financial embargo. But we're not taking this lying down," Assange told the general assembly of the Inter-American Press Association by teleconference.

"We have been presently in a strong enough cash position to survive entirely on our cash reserves for the past 11 months, and there are not many staff organizations that are in such a strong cash position," Assange stressed from London where he is living until a court rules on his potential extradition to Sweden.

In a 50-minute speech, he said whistleblowing website WikiLeaks was nowhere near financial Armageddon because "we have thousands of pending disclosures for publications, we have signed contracts with more than 50 media organizations around the world."

Assange is currently living under stringent bail conditions in Britain, fighting extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over alleged rape and sexual assault

(c) 2011 AFP