"There are two sides to the story and these women are on the receiving end of a lot of hate mail. How does anyone who calls for his release and the dropping of the charges know the truth? In this battle for Julian's release, Bradley Manning has been forgotten."

She added: "A lot of my work with WikiLeaks was great. I feel privileged to have been given an opportunity to participate in something historic. But this creating of a martyr and icon [in Mr Assange] has got completely out of control. I look at the website and I see a picture of him and there is nothing behind this façade.