Wikileaks founder Julian Assange appeared via Skype at the SXSW Interactive festival earlier this year. Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange marked the second year to the day on Thursday as an occupant of the Ecuadorian embassy at 3 Hans Crescent in Knightsbridge, London.

Assange, whose Wikileaks site has published more than 8 million anonymously leaked documents since 2006, took the opportunity with his US- and UK-based lawyers to speak to the press on a conference call from the embassy about his legal struggles with the US, UK, and Swedish governments.

The 42-year-old Australian native railed against the four-year-long US criminal investigation of Wikileaks, claiming that it's the largest Department of Justice investigation of a publisher since the passage of the Espionage Act of 1917.

"It is against the stated principles of the United States and the values supported by its people to have a four-year pre-law investigation against a publisher," Assange said. "It is not correct for [US Attorney General] Eric Holder and the DOJ to use weasel words for stating that they will not prosecute a reporter for reporting."

Assange said that by investigating Wikileaks, the US government wants to create a schism between national security reporters and "those reporters who report the details of a press conference."

"I call on Eric Holder today to immediately drop the national security investigation against Wikileaks," he said.

The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment. Despite allegations, Assange has not been charged with a crime by authorities in the US or UK related to espionage, or by the Swedish authorities seeking his extradition over rape allegations.

Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy on June 19, 2012, seeking political asylum from a British court order to extradite him to Sweden over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women there. Assange's attorneys stressed that since then they have been willing to have Assange interviewed over the phone or by video conference, but that Swedish officials refuse to meet with him except on Swedish soil.

"If he goes to Sweden it will likely be a one-way ticket to the United States," said Michael Ratner, the US-based attorney for Assange and Wikileaks. Assange receives support from and is a trustee of the Courage Foundation, which also provides legal and financial support to Edward Snowden, the NSA whistle-blower. Assange says he assisted Snowden when communicating from Hong Kong.

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Wikileaks' Julian Assange: I'm still here

Julian Assange.

Today marks the second anniversary of Assange entering the diplomatic mission to seek political asylum, which he was granted in mid-August 2012.

WikiLeaks legal adviser Jen Robinson used the anniversary to announce a new bid to get Sweden to drop its four-year investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Assange.

Next Tuesday lawyers in Stockholm will file a challenge to a Swedish detention order "on the basis that new information has been received about the case", Ms Robinson told reporters during a phone conference.

She noted that since the UK courts agreed to extradite Assange the British law had changed "to prevent people being extradited without charge".

Assange fears if he goes to Sweden he'll be extradited to the United States and charged over WikiLeaks' release of classified documents.

The 42-year-old says even if the Swedish warrant was dismissed he still risks being extradited from Britain to the US.

"However, the removal of the Swedish matter will prevent what has been an extremely distracting political attack, which has been to try and draw attention away from what is the largest ever criminal investigation by the (US) Department of Justice into a publisher, and into me, personally," Assange said on Wednesday.

Removing Sweden from the equation would make it easier to find out if the British government supported his extradition to the US, the former computer hacker said.

This time last year Assange launched a blistering attack on the Gillard government in Australia saying it "bent over more than any other country in the world" to appease the US.

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Assange marks two years in London embassy

It's been two years since the founder of WikiLeaks committed himself to an indefinite sentence inside the Ecuadorian embassy. And he shows no sign of giving himself parole. The statue of limitations on the sexual offences case in Sweden, from Assange is a fugitive, expires in August 2020, so he may yet have another six years at least to serve there. But how does the Australian campaigner keep from going stir-crazy?

MORNING Assange workd 17-hour days and has always been a night owl, keeping "hackers' hours" of late night nights and sleeping in. He is a light sleeper, and the location of the embassy in the heart of Kensington has been a problem for him. Harrods is close by 3 Hans Crescent and the early morning deliveries played havoc with his sleep.

"I couldnt sleep because of the Harrods loading bay and the cops always doing shift changes outside," Assange told the Australian magazine Who.

"And the quietest room is the womens bathroom, the only room thats easy to sleep in. So I thought Id try and somehow get hold of it and renovate it. Eventually, somewhat reluctantly, the staff relented. They ripped out the toilet. Theyve been very generous."

THE DAY'S PROJECTS Assange's converted bathroom-office has modest living quarters, with a bed, a small kitchenette, a computer with internet connections and a shower. On the wall is reportedly a picture of NSA leaker Edward Snowden, mocked up to look like Shephard Faireys Barack Obama Hope poster.

Author Andrew O'Hagan, Assange's ex-ghost writer, wrote in his marathon essay for the London Review of Books that Assange is not a tidy house guest, but the debris around his workspace is often mainly the litany of gifts sent by supporters. "When I first went to see him he was in a corner room at the back of the embassy, surrounded by hampers from Harrods across the way well-wishers presents to the incarcerated and sitting at a grubby desk covered in snacks and papers," O'Hagan wrote. He was later moved to a new, bigger room "but standard-issue, messy, depressing, smelling of laborious boring hours".

Assange has multiple mobile phones and laptops, and a continuously whirring shredder that destroys "anything that might leave a paper trail", the Mail reported after visiting the campaigner.

EVENINGS Assange works a 17-hour day, seven days a week, running the WikiLeaks operations and its Twitter account, according to multiple reports. At 4 o'clock every afternoon a small group of supporters hold a vigil for Assange outside the embassy. They try and keep my spirits up, he told the Mail. And they do.

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Julian Assange's Life Inside A Converted Women's Toilet At The Ecuadorian Embassy

By Rick FeneleyJune 19, 2014, 9:17 a.m.

Julian Assange is promising another massive leak of information affecting 50 countries on Thursday to mark his two years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Julian Assange speaking from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. The WikiLeaks founder has been in the embassy for two years. Photo: AFP/Leon Neal

US whistleblower Edward Snowden. Julian Assange claimed to be assisting him from the Ecuador embassy in London Photo: Reuters/NBC News

Julian Assange said former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr lied about the level of consular assistance offered to the WikiLeaks founder. Photo: Peter Rae

Julian Assange is promising another massive leak of information affecting 50 countries on Thursday to mark his two years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

On the eve of that anniversary, the Australian editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks invited the worlds media to dial in to the embassy so he could download.

In his conference call late on Wednesday night, Australian time, Assange called former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr a liar; he chastised US President Barack Obama; he revealed he had done more kilometres than he could count on his cross-trainer; and he spoke of his pride in WikiLeaks state-of-the-art technical clout which had allowed him while confined in his diplomatic refuge to manage the evacuation of American intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden from Hong Kong during the largest ever intelligence manhunt the world has ever seen.

But Assange is making time to watch the World Cup after 729 days of asylum in the embassy. "Of course, Ecuador undoubtedly deserves to win, he said, although he added Brazil probably would triumph. In any case, the reception in this building is quite difficult, which may have its advantages. Perhaps it makes it a bit harder for the bugs to transmit through the walls as well.

Assange said police gather intelligence on visitors and that the British government has spent almost $10 million on 24-hour surveillance of the embassy lest he ever dare to leave the small building, close to Harrods in Knightsbridge.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to release files on 50 countries

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hold a vigil outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to mark his two years in refuge at the embassy, Thursday, June 19, 2014. Julian Assange entered the embassy in June 2012 to gain political asylum to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sex crimes, which he denies.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)

LONDON (AP) The gathering at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London has the feel of something which may become an annual fixture.

For the second time in as many years, journalists were invited Thursday to the embassy to mark the anniversary of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange's stay there a bid to escape extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted over allegations of sexual misconduct, and to the United States, where an investigation into WikiLeaks' dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents remains live.

Supporters including one with a figure of Assange on a crucifix chanted slogans outside the embassy. Inside, Assange said he has no intention of going to Sweden because he has no guarantee he wouldn't subsequently be sent to the U.S.

Dressed in a suit and sneakers and appearing relaxed, he traded pleasantries with Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino as reporters crowded around to listen in on the banter.

"I can see that your beard is longer now," Patino joked via videolink from Ecuador, referring to Assange's wispy white stubble. Assange in turn paid tribute to Ecuador's "robust resistance" to pressure from outside powers which he said is why "I have a liberty to work today."

Assange had been under a form of supervised release in the U.K., but shortly after losing his battle in Britain's highest court he jumped bail and applied for asylum at the Ecuadorean Embassy on June 19, 2012.

British police on guard outside the embassy have orders to arrest him should he ever step out.

That doesn't seem likely.

Patino told journalists that negotiations with Britain over Assange's fate were at an impasse and that there would be no attempt to force him back to Sweden.

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Julian Assange marks 2nd year in Ecuador's embassy

June 20, 2014, 3 a.m.

Is Julian Assange back in the game? Many media and other observers have written off the WikiLeaks publisher as a diminished, almost comical, figure eking out an existence in Ecuador's London embassy where he has been granted diplomatic asylum.

Is Julian Assange back in the game? Many media and other observers have written off the WikiLeaks publisher as a diminished, almost comical, figure eking out an existence in Ecuador's London embassy where he has been granted diplomatic asylum.

Assange has not seen the sun for two years, and it has appeared to many that his anti-secrecy group might also have had its day.

After all, WikiLeaks' biggest hits - the publication in 2010-11 of the leaked Baghdad helicopter gunship video, the US Army's Afghanistan and Iraq war logs and the massive "cablegate" trove of US diplomatic records - are now three years in the past.

WikiLeaks' most notable source, US Army private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning has been tried, found guilty and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

In a world that craves novelty and where the media cycle turns ever faster, Assange has looked like yesterday's news.

His complex legal circumstances remain unresolved. Sweden still wishes to extradite him to face questioning about sexual assault allegations that were first made in August 2010.

Assange denies the allegations and continues to claim that he is at risk of extradition to the United States to face prosecution arising from Manning's unauthorised disclosure of US government secrets.

Ecuador appears prepared to provide Assange with indefinite asylum. However, neither Britain nor Sweden appear at all inclined to provide any assurances that Assange would not be surrendered to the US at some future date. So Assange will not leave the embassy.

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Julian Assange unlikely to slip quietly into obscurity

The 42-year-old walked into the embassy in June 2012 in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden and has been there ever since.

He allegedly sexually assaulted two women in Stockholm, but Mr Assange fears he that if he goes to Sweden he will be extradited to America after he enraged the White House by releasing thousands of its secrets in 2010.

Hes learned a lot - hes certainly a different person Vaughan Smith, friend of Julian Assange

On Wednesday, Mr Assange was due to mark his two years in the embassy with a conference call to journalists.

Journalist Vaughan Smith, who gave refuge to Assange in 2010, says the Wikileaks website founder is fine but longs for freedom.

He said: "I went to see him six weeks ago, and he seemed absolutely normal.

"Its like hes in a prison cell, but a prison cell with the internet.

"He craves freedom, he cant buy his own food and he would love to have the chance to have a normal walk in the fresh air.

"Hes learned a lot - hes certainly a different person."

US military secrets revealed by Assange include evidence that a US military helicopter crew in Iraq gunned down a dozen people in July 2007 after falsely claiming to have been shot at.

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Julian Assange 'in prison cell with internet access'

Weather Underground Scion's Play Is Digital Thriller By Ed Rampell

Published June 10, 2014.

Zayd Dohrns ripped-from-the-headlines Muckrakers is a drama about transparency in the digital age that asks: When does disclosure of the public and personal become too much openness?

The one-act play was inspired in part by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks exposure of Chelsea Mannings Iraq and Afghan war revelations. Assanges alleged sex scandal also informed the plays storyline.

Muckrakers has more twists and turns than a windy seaside road, as renowned British Internet free speech activist Stephen (Darren Keefe) spends the night with anarchistic blogger Mira (Erica Bitton) after a New York speech. All hell breaks loose as the WikiLeaker-type character is out-WikiLeaked in this thought-provoking piece, which is currently having its West Coast premiere.

The playwrights family has an intimate connection to electronic surveillance. In the 1970s, Zayd Dohrns mother Bernardine Dohrn was on the FBIs 10 Most Wanted list along with his father, Bill Ayers, she belonged to the Weather Underground, a group of New Left militants who carried out armed struggle against Washington.

In 2008, they were the so-called domestic terrorists who vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of palling around with. Zayd Dohrn was born in 1977, and then grew up, underground in New York. The dramatist is also a playwriting and screenwriting professor at Northwestern University.

Dohrn, who is arguably the son of a first family of Americas far left, works with a stage outlet that has a lofty lefty lineage, as well as an exalted dramatic pedigree and Jewish roots. Muckrakers is being presented in L.A. by the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company at the Art of Acting Studio, the West Coast branch of Manhattans Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Dohrn is tall, lean, casually dressed, friendly. During a candid conversation at a Westwood hotel, the playwright opened up about being Jewish, whistleblowers, playwriting, Sarah Palin, Deep Throat, and growing up Dohrn.

Ed Rampell: In what way are you Jewish?

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Zayd Dohrn's 'Muckrakers' Is Ripped From His Radical Royalty Bloodline

OHM2013: Wikileaks fights on
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OHM2013: Wikileaks fights on - Video

by Michael Collins June 10, 2014

(Image: Global Panorama CC)

Is he still working for his former masters in Washington, DC?

Two diplomatic messages from the WikiLeaks Public Library on U.S. Diplomacy indicate that newly elected President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko was an agent for United States State Department. A confidential message from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev on April 29, 2006 mentions the newly elected Ukraine president twice.

"During an April 28 meeting with Ambassador, Our Ukraine (OU) insider Petro Poroshenko emphatically denied he was using his influence with the Prosecutor General to put pressure on Tymoshenko lieutenant Oleksandr."

"During an April 28 meeting with Ambassador, Our Ukraine (OU) insider Petro Poroshenko denied that he was behind Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko's recent decision to issue an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko lieutenant Oleksandr Turchynov. [to] question him about the alleged destruction of SBU [Ukraine intel] files on organized crime figure Seymon Mogilievich." [Russian Mafia Boss of Bosses] WikiLeaks Public Library of U.S. Diplomacy

The motivation for alleged destruction of files appeared in an embassy message from April 14, 2006.

"-- The files contained information about Tymoshenko's cooperation with Mogilievich when she ran United Energy Systems in the mid-late 1990s." WikiLeaks

Yulia Tymoshenko, an aspiring oligarch, is the darling of the both the Bush and Obama administrations for her role in the 2004 Orange Revolution that brought the first modern anti-Russian Ukraine government to power. She helped negotiate the natural gas deals between Ukraine and Russia.

Another mention of Poroshenko made it clear that the State Department saw the future value of Poroshenko's insider role.

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Ukraine President Once Agent for U.S. State Department