Assange went on to call for the release of Bradley Manning, the U.S. intelligence analyst accused of leaking masses of confidential information to WikiLeaks, who is currently in military prison.

"I ask President Obama to do the right thing: the United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks," he said. WikiLeaks workers and supporters and members of the media including journalists at the New York Times -- which worked with WikiLeaks to publish U.S. documents -- should not be prosecuted, Assange said. He called on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to halt any investigation related to Wikileaks they may be carrying out.

To date however, no journalist or member of WikiLeaks has been indicted in the U.S. in a WikiLeaks-related case, although there have been media reports, unconfirmed by government officials, that a grand jury was convened to look into a WikiLeaks-related case. U.S. grand juries are convened to establish whether there is enough evidence in a case so that prosecution may go forward. Grand jury evidence is not made public.

Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy since June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual offences.

However, Assange and his advisors have said that once in Sweden, he could then be extradited to the U.S., where he has said he believed authorities want to put him on trial for publishing diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks in 2010.