President Joe Biden said Wednesday he is considering a request from Australia to drop a decade-long push for the United States to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for releasing a trove of classified U.S. documents. Ta.
Australia has long called on the US to drop charges against Mr Assange, an Australian citizen who has resisted the US extradition campaign from a British prison, but made the request on Wednesday during an official visit by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. When asked about it, he said: Mr. Biden said he was “considering it.”
Assange is charged with 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer abuse for publishing a trove of classified US documents on his website nearly 15 years ago. U.S. prosecutors allege that Assange, 52, encouraged and assisted U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files published by WikiLeaks and put her life at risk. ing.
UN expert on freedom of expression calls for prosecution of Julian Assange to be halted due to concerns over press freedom
Australia claims there is a disparity between the US’ treatment of Mr Assange and Mr Manning. Then-US President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year prison sentence to seven years and granted him release in 2017.
Mr. Assange’s supporters argue that he is a First Amendment-protected journalist in the public interest who exposed wrongdoings by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, said the WikiLeaks founder was being “persecuted for exposing the true cost of war in human lives”. She said his health continued to deteriorate in prison and she feared he would die in prison.
President Joe Biden speaks during a state guest arrival ceremony with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2024 in Washington. Asked earlier in the day about Australia’s request for the US to drop charges against Julian Assange, Biden said he was considering it. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Mr Biden’s comments about Mr Assange were encouraging.
“I said on behalf of Mr Assange that we have been making the case in every possible way at every level of government in Australia’s national interest that enough is enough and this needs to be concluded,” Albanese said. he said. “Mr Assange has already paid a huge price and enough is enough. My very strong view is that there is nothing to be gained by continuing to incarcerate Mr Assange and that Australia has I stated this as the government’s view.” ” he added.
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In response to Biden’s comments, WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristin Hrapensson said in a statement: “President Biden was too slow to block Julian’s extradition to the United States, which was a politically motivated act by his predecessor. No,” he said.
“By dropping the charges against Julian, he will be defending freedom of expression and the rights of journalists and publishers around the world,” she said. “We urge him to halt this legal process, release Julian, and recognize that journalism is not a crime.”
A British court ruled last month that Assange could not be extradited to the United States to face spying charges unless American authorities guaranteed he would not face the death penalty.
