President Raphael Correa "for the courage he has shown" in granting him asylum, as well as other nations and individuals who support Correa's decision. Assange then slammed the US government and President Barack Obama, calling for an end to the "witch hunt against WikiLeaks.""The United States must pledge before the world will not pursue journalists for shining light on the secret crimes of the powerful. The US administration’s war against whistleblowers must end," he said.He also spoke on Bradley Manning, the Army Private who was slapped with 22 criminal charges for his alleged role in leaking intelligence documents to WikiLeaks, which were then made publicly available on the Internet. Manning has been imprisoned for more than 800 days in pre-trial detention, and has yet to be brought beforea military tribunal. "On Wednesday, Bradley spent his 815th day of detention without trial. The legal maximum is 120 days," Assange said. "If Bradley Manning did as he is accused, he is a hero and invaluable to all of us. Bradley Manning must be released." In his remarks, Assange mentioned jailed Bahraini human rights activists Nabeel Rajab, who had recently been sentenced to six months in prison for tweeting comments critical of the Bahraini Prime Minister, calling for him to step down. On August 16, a Bahraini court ruled to extend his sentence by another three years, for “involvement in illegal practices and inciting gatherings and calling for unauthorized marches through social networking sites,” and for his “participation in an illegal assembly” and “participation in an illegal gathering