Anthony Albanese has spoken out against attempts to extradite Australians to the US ahead of next week's court ruling.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the years-long legal pursuit of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by the US and UK ahead of next week's court ruling on his appeal against extradition.
Prime Minister Albanese said Thursday that the entire country shares the view that “enough is enough.” Mr. Assange, 52, is an Australian national.
“We can't let this go on forever,” Mr Albanese said in a speech in parliament on Wednesday after supporting a motion to halt the prosecution so Assange could return to his family in Australia. Ta.
Judges at the High Court in London are scheduled to rule on Assange's appeal against extradition to the United States at a hearing on February 20 and 21.
He spent five years in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison, where he is fighting extradition to the United States and is wanted on criminal charges related to the release of secret military records and diplomatic cables in 2010. Washington claims that releasing the documents cost him his life. danger.
Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden before he was arrested and charged with sexual assault, which was later dropped.
Al Jazeera's Sonia Gallego, reporting from London, said supporters fear Mr. Assange could effectively “spend the rest of his life in prison.”
“What they are essentially saying is that this is Assange's last chance to have some freedom,” she said at a press conference held by Assange supporters.
They would be “terrible” to the concept of press freedom, Gallego reported, and would essentially “set a precedent in which people tried under the Espionage Act become, in effect, pawns of the establishment.” Ta.
Jeffrey Robertson, Mr Assange's former legal adviser, said the whistleblower had suffered enough.
“He released detailed information about American policy and the war crimes America committed that was available to three million military personnel and officials. And this is what he got for that,” he told Al Jazeera. Told.
He said Australia's parliamentary motion was a “wake-up call” to the US government. He expected the case to drag on beyond next week's verdict. He said Assange ultimately had the option of filing a case with the European Court of Human Rights and seeking an interim order halting the extradition.
“Standing as one”
Mr Albanese said the Australian government had a duty to lobby on behalf of its people and had raised the issue “at the highest levels” in the UK and US.
He said Australia should not interfere with other countries' legal processes. “However, it is appropriate to express the very strong view that these countries need to consider the need to resolve this issue.”
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, MP Andrew Wilkie, who drafted the parliamentary motion, said the motion sent a strong message that Australia would stand “united” on this issue. “Regardless of what you think about Mr. Assange, justice has not yet been served in this case,” he said.
I'm glad to see it @AlboMP Please answer my questions today and give the strongest, clearest, most detailed statement about Julian Assange to Congress. See the full Q&A at https://t.co/ZBZiBuP39h. #Free Assange NOW #Auspol #politas
— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) February 15, 2024
