WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced Wednesday that he is helping Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker, find asylum.
During a conference call with reporters, Assange said members of his anti-secrecy website have been in contact with lawyers who are helping the 29-year-old former CIA contractor seek asylum in Iceland, USA Today reports.
Assange, who held the conference on the one-year anniversary of his own asylum in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, said his group has a "common cause" with Snowden. However, he did not reveal whether he personally has spoken with the whistleblower. Instead, he explained, "We are in touch with Mr. Snowden's legal team and have been, are involved, in the process of brokering his asylum in Iceland," reports NBC News.
Snowden leaked details about the U.S. governments top-secret and broad Internet and phone surveillance programs to The Guardian and The Washington Post earlier this month. He revealed his identity while in Hong Kong, where it is believed he is still hiding.
Assange believes that if Snowden is returned to the U.S., he will likely face a similar fate to that of Bradley Manning, who handed over thousands of military documents and sensitive government communications that were posted on Wikileaks. Manning is currently facing a court martial trial for aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act.
"Will Edward Snowden be in the same position that Bradley Manning is in, ... and is the United States the type of country from which journalists must seek asylum in relation to their work?" Assange asked.
Assange was joined on the called by famed leakers Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971, and Thomas Drake, who faced felony charges for leaking the Baltimore Sun information showing alleged mismanagement at the NSA in 2005.