Biden ‘considering’ Australia’s request to drop Assange prosecution
- Australian Julian Assange in British prison on espionage charges
- US says he endangered lives by publishing classified docs on WikiLeaks
- Assange's supporters say he was doing his job as journalist
FILE – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange greets supporters on May 19, 2017, outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been in self imposed exile since 2012. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed frustration at the United States’ continuing efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange, saying: “There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration.” Albanese made his comments Friday, May 5, 2023, in an Australian Broadcasting Corp. interview. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday that he is considering Australia’s request for the United States to drop its prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Assangem an Australian journalist, is currently in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse. First arrested in 2010 in London, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in England, where he stayed for seven years.
U.S. prosecutors say Assange helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that were published by WikiLeaks.
Barack Obama, while president, commuted Manning’s original 35-year sentence to seven years, allowing her to be released in 2017.
What does Australia want for Assange?
Australia has been asking America not to prosecute Assange for years now. Back in February, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he hoped for an “amicable end” to Assange’s prosecution after parliament approved a motion asking for his release.
“It’s not up to Australia to interfere in the legal processes of other countries, but it is appropriate for us to put our very strong view that those countries need to take into account the need for this to be concluded,” Albanese said at the time. “Regardless of where people stand, this thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely.”
Asked about Australia’s request on Wednesday while hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an official visit, Biden said: “We’re considering it.”
Supporters of Assange say as a journalist, he was protected by the First Amendment, and the U.S. military wrongdoing he exposed in Iraq and Afghanistan was in the public interest.
However, U.S. officials say Assange’s actions went beyond journalism and extended to soliciting, stealing and indiscriminately publishing classified government documents that endangered people’s lives.
What is next for Julian Assange?
In March, a British court ruled that Assange can’t be extradited to the United States unless authorities in the country guarantee he won’t get the death penalty.
Axios reports that the U.S. was given until April 16 by the court to assure Assange of this.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
