Assange: US Treatment of Snowden a 'Disgrace'

Julian Assange knows a thing or two about feeling abandoned by your government while on the run for whistleblowing activities. Today he hit out at the US government for cancelling Edward Snowden's passport, which he says has left him high and dry in Russia. "I think that every citizen has the right to their citizenship, to take someone's principle form of citizenship their passport, is a disgrace," he told ABC's This Week, per Politico.

"I have a personal sympathy for Mr. Snowden," said Assange, who retains his Australian passport, though it isn't much good to him while he's holed up in an Ecuadorian embassy. He says WikiLeaks' legal team has been in touch with Snowden, but he rejects claims from Snowden's father that he is manipulating his son. "This isn't a situation that WikiLeaks is in charge of," he said. "This is a matter for states, it's a very, very serious level to understand and sort out and behave responsibly." (More Julian Assange stories.)