Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on the US government to stop prosecuting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after more than a decade. “Enough is enough,” Albanese said Wednesday of his compatriot’s case. “It is time for this matter to be brought to a conclusion.” The Social Democrat stressed that he also made this clear in discussions with US government officials. “My position is clear.”
Assange initially lived for years in an asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Since 2019 he has been locked up in a maximum security prison near the British capital. The United States is seeking his extradition for posting about 700,000 classified documents about US military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan on the Wikileaks website since 2010, including explosive information about the killing of civilians and the abuse of prisoners.
The British government has decided to extradite Assange. However, the 51-year-old filed an appeal in early July. In the United States, the Australian faces a prison sentence of up to 175 years.
Albanese has made it clear that he has little sympathy for Assange’s actions. However, he sees no reason to endlessly expand the lawsuit against him. The Australian prime minister referred to the case of US whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who was pardoned by then US President Barack Obama in 2017. Her 35-year sentence for stealing US military secrets was thus reduced to seven years.
Just this week, several internationally renowned media outlets called on the US government to stop prosecuting Assange. The open letter, signed by Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais, The New York Times and The Guardian and published on Monday, said the indictment sets a dangerous precedent and threatens to undermine press freedom.
The American judiciary wants to try Assange on espionage charges. He is accused of stealing and publishing classified materials from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, thus endangering the lives of US whistleblowers. Supporters see Assange as a courageous journalist who exposed war crimes and who should now be made an example of.
Exactly 12 years ago, the media outlets that wrote the open letter, in partnership with the Wikileaks platform, published disclosure stories about classified messages from the US State Department. In 2016, during the US election campaign, Wikileaks released thousands of emails from the Democratic Party that caused then Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton serious political damage. US intelligence agencies believe the emails were downloaded by Russian hackers and leaked to Wikileaks to help Republican candidate Donald Trump. Trump defeated Clinton in the election.
