AUSTRALIA – The Labor government wants Wikileaks founder Julian Assange returned home to Australia instead of being extradited to the US. It’s a fight that has been going on for more than a decade.
This week, in London, Assange’s lawyers began their final legal challenge to attempt to block the Wikileaks founder from being extradited to the United States, where he faces spy charges for exposing serious criminal acts by US authorities, including US military wrongdoing during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
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Assange, who is facing 17 charges of espionage, has been fighting extradition to the US for more than a decade, and is currently being held in a high-security prison just outside of London.
On Tuesday, his hearing began – but Assange has failed to appear for the first two days citing illness, along with his legal team stating that if he is extradited to the US he would face a “flagrant denial of justice.”
Supporters of Assange have also voiced their concerns for his safety and wellbeing, with hundreds of people gathering in protest outside the high court in London chanting “”there is only one decision – no extradition”. Just last week, Andrei Molodkin, a Russian artist and supporter of Assange, threatened to destroy $45millionUSD worth of art if Assange dies in prison. The collection supposedly includes the work of Rambrandt, Picasso, and Warhol.
Speaking to ABC Breakfast on Wednesday, Labor MP Tanya Plibersek said that the Australian government had made it very clear that Assange should be allowed to return to his home country.
“We have concerns for his health,” she said. “We have been working consistently since coming to government, particularly behind-the-scenes, to say that we believe Mr Assange should be returned … These sorts of issues of diplomacy are not always best done through a megaphone, but we will continue to advocate for an end to this and see Mr Assange returned home.”
Plibesek did not say whether the charges would be dropped if he does return to Australia.
Also speaking to ABC Breakfast, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said that while the nation respects the independence of both the UK and US judicial systems, but “in respect of an Australian citizen who is incarcerated overseas, we are very simply saying that this has been a long time now and this is a circumstance which needs to be resolved.”
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