WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange emerged from inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London on Sunday with a defiant speech from near the embassy’s balcony. Assange spoke days after Ecuador granted him political asylum, prompting Britain to deny him safe passage out of the country. In a nine-minute address to the media and supporters of WikiLeaks, Assange called on President Obama to abandon what he described as a “war on whistleblowers.”

Julian Assange: “I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks. The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters. The United States must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful.”