Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being prosecuted, according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who recently requested that the persecution of Assange halt.
The Australian government is putting more diplomatic pressure on the US to drop the spying accusations against the 51-year-old, who is fighting extradition from the UK, according to Mr. Albanese’s remarks to the Australian Senate.
“I have personally brought this up with members of the US government,” the Australian leader told the house of representatives. It is time for this situation to be resolved, and that is my position, which I have made plain to the US government.
“This is an Australian citizen,” Mr. Albanese added.
“I don’t have sympathy for Mr. Assange’s actions on a whole range of matters, but … you have to reach a point whereby what is the point of … continuing this legal action which could be caught up now for many years into the future?”
When the two men met informally two weeks ago on the sidelines of a summit in Cambodia, Mr. Albanese declined to say whether he and Mr. Biden directly broached the subject of Assange. However, Mr. Albanese claimed that he had “recently in meetings” supported Assange.
The Australian prime minister compared Assange’s treatment to that of Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst who was “now able to engage freely in US society,” according to the prime minister.
According to American authorities, Assange allegedly assisted Manning in stealing secret military documents and diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks eventually released, endangering lives.
Manning was released in 2017 after then-US President Barack Obama shortened her 35-year sentence to seven years.
The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, and Der Spiegel, international news organizations that worked with WikiLeaks to release private US state department cables in 2010 signed an open letter this week urging the dismissal of Assange’s charges.
