Assange Tells Mom Criticism Won't Stop WikiLeaks Work

Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told his mother that the broad condemnation of his work by the U.S. government and its allies has "increased my determination" to continue publishing secret American diplomatic cables.

Christine Assange visited her son in a London prison Monday, a day before he was due to stand before a British magistrate deciding whether the Australian should be extradited to Sweden for questioning on rape and other sexual misconduct claims.

Australia's Seven Network asked Christine Assange to present her son with one question during their visit, according to the Reuters news agency; "was it worth it?"

"My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed. This circumstance shall not shake them," said Assange, according to his mother who supplied a written statement of her son's answer. "If anything this process has increased my determination that they are true and correct."

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The WikiLeaks boss also berated a handful of large corporations which have ended their relations with his organization -- some of them admittedly under huge pressure from American politicians to do so.

"We now know that Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and others are instruments of U.S. foreign policy. It's not something we knew before," he charged in the statement provided by his mother. "I am calling for the world to protect my work and my people from these illegal and immoral attacks."

Christine Assange told Network Seven she had conveyed to her son, "how people from all over the world, all sorts of countries were standing up with placards and screaming out for his freedom and justice and he was very heartened by that," she said. "As a mother I am asking the world to stand up for my brave son."