Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the years-long legal persecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Regardless of what people’s views are on Assange, “this thing cannot go on and on,” Albanese told the Australian parliament on Thursday.
Australians from different political camps felt the same way, the Prime Minister continued: “Enough is enough.” The Australian parliament, with the support of the head of government, passed a motion on Wednesday calling for an end to the persecution of 52-year-old Assange so he can return to his family in Australia.
Hearing scheduled
A hearing is scheduled next week for Australian citizen Assange, who has been imprisoned in Britain since 2019. The court will review a judge’s previous ruling in June, which refused to allow Assange to appeal his extradition to the United States. A final decision must be made on whether all legal remedies for the Wikileaks founder against his extradition have been exhausted or whether he can continue to pursue action against it in the British courts. If the appeal is rejected by the High Court in London, extradition proceedings against Assange would begin.
Albanese said he had raised the matter “at the highest levels” in Britain and the United States.
In Belmarsh maximum security prison
Assange was arrested by British police in 2019 after hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years to avoid extradition. He has since been held in the high-security Belmarsh prison in south-east London.
Assange is accused of publishing around 700,000 confidential documents about US military and diplomatic activities, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan, starting in 2010. If convicted, the 52-year-old Australian could face decades in prison.
The British government agreed to his extradition in June 2022 and Assange appealed. Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, asked US President Joe Biden to pardon her husband in July.
Source: Krone
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