Assange says Hong Kong's reputation hurt by rendition and Dotcom cases
Wikileaks founder cites role in rendition of Libyan man and seizure of Dotcom's assets
Hong Kong's alleged role in the secret 2004 rendition of a Libyan man and his family greatly damaged the city's reputation, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says.
The seizure of assets belonging to former Hong Kong resident Kim Dotcom in 2012 had also hurt the city's standing as a safe place to do business, said the freedom-of-information activist.
He was speaking by phone last week from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has been holed up for more than a year to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex charges.
"There's no doubt that the Libyan dissident case has damaged Hong Kong's reputation," Assange said, referring to Sami al-Saadi, who was considered by the West to have ties to al-Qaeda.
"Similarly, the combined raid on Kim Dotcom's assets by Hong Kong authorities and the FBI has damaged the city's reputation."
In March 2004, Saadi - along with his wife and four young children - was forced onto a flight out of Chek Lap Kok to Tripoli, where he endured years of torture by henchmen of the then Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
CIA documents detail the Hong Kong government's complicity with British and US spies in ensuring the rendition was carried out quickly and quietly.