London - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has condemned a British publisher for releasing drafts of a memoir without his approval.
British publisher Canongate says the book, billed as an “unauthorised autobiography”, will go on sale in stores and online on Thursday. Canongate paid the 40-year-old Assange for the rights to the memoir last year, and he began working with a ghostwriter on the book.
But in an exclusive statement released to The Associated Press, Assange says Canongate has acted in breach of contract and personal assurances that the draft would not be published without his consent.
Assange says that the draft is a work in progress, and has not been corrected or fact-checked by him.
He condemned the publisher for “profiteering from an unfinished and erroneous draft”. - Sapa-AP