JULIAN Assange has addressed the UN, calling for an end to the persecution of WikiLeaks, after reports they had become enemies of the US.

Assange spoke about the ethical and legal aspects of diplomatic asylum on a video link from the Equadorian embassy in London, where he has been granted asylum.



"We commend and agree with the words that peace can be achieved… But the time for words has run out," he said.



"It is time for the US to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks, our people and our sources.



Assange also mentioned Bradley Manning, the US private accused of supplying WikiLeaks with hundreds of sensitive diplomatic and military cables.



Assange accused the US government of detaining Manning without charge and mistreating him.



The WikiLeaks founder told the UN panel that Bradley Manning, accused of 'death penalty crimes', was "degraded, abused and psychologically tortured."

The US military has now put Assange and WikiLeaks in the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban, Fairfax reports.



Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents revealed military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with "communicating with the enemy", a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death.

The revelation comes as Ecuador's foreign minister will ask British authorities to give Julian Assange safe passage out of the UK in a bid to end the stand-off between the two countries.



Ricardo Patino told a human rights forum at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday that he planned to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the city on Thursday.



It will be the first talks between the two countries since the Latin American nation granted the Australian WikiLeaks founder diplomatic asylum in August.



"What we are going to ask is that they will grant him safe passage so his asylum can be effective," Mr Patino said through a translator.



"We see this as a way not only to resolve the deadlock between our two countries, but also to protect the human rights of Mr Assange.



"The other question that's in the air is: what if they don't grant him safe conduct? Do we want to keep him 10 years in our embassy? Mr Assange would have to live there for 10 years without having the right to his life, his personal life, intimacy, the right to mobility."



Mr Patino said Ecuador will "not back down'' from its commitment to Mr Assange's human rights.



Queensland-born Mr Assange was beamed live by satellite from within the Ecuadorean embassy in London to Wednesday's forum, when he called on the United States government to end its pursuit of his whistleblower website.



"It is time for the US to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks, to cease its persecution of our people, and to cease its persecution of our alleged sources," Mr Assange told the Strengthening Human Rights meeting.



"It is time for (US) President (Barack) Obama to do the right thing ... not in fine words, but in fine deeds."



Mr Assange sought asylum from Ecuador after failing to appeal orders by British courts that he be extradited to Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations.



Mr Assange denies the claims and fears his extradition will lead to his transportation to the US where he will be prosecuted for publishing a cache of confidential US diplomatic cables and documents on his website.



Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Wednesday said the position of Mr Assange had not been discussed during any of his meetings with international delegates while in New York. Nor does he have any intention of meeting Ecuadorian officials on the issue.