Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterates his call for the case against Julian Assange to be dropped
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterates his call for the case against Julian Assange to be dropped
- Anthony Albanese throws support behind Julian Assange
- Prime Minister repeated his call for the case against him to be dropped
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterates his call for the case against Julian Assange to be dropped, rejecting suggestions that the United States will not be swayed by this issue.
Since taking office in 2022, the Albanian government has been calling for an end to the US pursuit of Assange.
But during a visit to Australia last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opposed the demands, saying Assange was charged with “very serious criminal conduct.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterates his call for the case against Julian Assange (pictured in London in 2017) to be dropped
Assange, an Australian citizen, published a wealth of classified documents more than a decade ago.
He has been in prison in the UK for more than four years and is fighting extradition to the US on espionage charges.
Still, Mr Albanese did not believe Mr Blinken’s comments suggested that the US government was unlikely to change its approach to the matter and rather reflected a position expressed in private conversations.
“What Minister Blinken did was just saying, in line with the American position,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“We remain very firm in our opinions and in our protests to the US government and we will continue to do so.”
The Prime Minister will keep repeating to his American colleagues that the matter has gone on too long and said ‘enough is enough’.
Since taking office in 2022, the Albanian government has been calling for an end to US pursuit of Assange
Julian Assange and WikiLeaks
Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 with the intention of releasing information on the Internet that governments wanted to keep secret from corporations.
WikiLeaks gained massive international attention in 2010 when it published a series of military leaks provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea (formerly known as Bradley) Manning.
Following the 2010 leaks, the US government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks.
In November 2010, Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle upon his arrival at Westminster Magistrates Court on April 11, 2019 in London
He denied the charge, saying the order was a ruse for further extradition to the US for his role in publishing classified US military documents.
Assange has breached bail in the UK and lived in Ecuador’s embassy in London from June 2012 to April 2019.
He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 on the grounds of political persecution.
In early 2019, Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation, saying their evidence had been “considerably weakened because of the long time that has elapsed since the events in question.”
But on April 11, 2019, Assange’s asylum was revoked after several disputes with Ecuadorian authorities.
He was arrested by British police and has been fighting extradition to the US ever since.