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The Pink Floyd co-founder, who had long called for the release
of the Australian publisher from a jail in Britain, told Reuters
he had exchanged messages of "sighs of relief" with Assange's
wife Stella since he arrived in Canberra last week.
Waters also visited Assange in jail last year with Stella and
former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Assange landed in Australia after pleading guilty to violating
U.S. espionage law in a deal that sets him free from a 14-year
legal battle. Waters said Assange was now "somewhere secret"
with his family.
"If he could (return to WikiLeaks) and if it's in his heart and
if that's what he would want to do, I'm sure he's got the balls
to do it," Waters said in an interview. "That remains to be
seen."
Asked if Assange would be in a condition to do so, Waters said:
"You'd have to ask Julian...but I hope so. I'm keeping my
fingers crossed. But mainly, I hope...that he's going to see his
boys grow up now and they can talk to their father."
Stella Assange has said it was too soon to say what her husband
would do next and that he needed time to recover and "get used
to freedom". Assange has not spoken publicly since being
released.
WikiLeaks lists several international media organisations among
its co-publishers, research partners and funders. It also says
that it is a not-for-profit organisation that is funded through
public donations.
Asked if he would be prepared to help fund WikiLeaks, which
Assange founded in 2006, Waters said: "Of course. I mean, I
can’t fund the whole thing. One has a limited war chest...I want
them to encourage whistleblowers everywhere to go to them."
Reuters has reached out to WikiLeaks for comment.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; editing by Miral Fahmy)
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