Anthony Albanese said earlier that Assange “has already been punished enough.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to take up the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces 175 years in prison in the United States for disclosing classified information. The head of government announced this on Monday during a speech to reporters in Canberra.
According to Albanese, he intends to “properly deal with this matter.” “I also intend to lead a government that cooperates diplomatically and appropriately with partners,” the Prime minister said, noting earlier that Assange “has already been punished enough.”
As the head of the Australian Foreign Ministry Penny Wong noted, “the Australian government cannot interfere in the legal issues of another country, but will continue to provide consular assistance to the founder of WikiLeaks.” “The Australian government has made it clear that the Assange case has dragged on for too long and that it should be brought to an end soon. We will continue to convey our point of view [on this case] to the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States,” she said, noting that lawyers still have ways to “appeal the decision to extradite” the Australian.
On Friday, an official representative of the British Interior Ministry said that the head of the department, Priti Patel, had decided to extradite Assange to the United States following a review of the case by both the Westminster Magistrate’s Court and the High Court in London. The Interior Ministry of the kingdom pointed out that the British courts did not come to the conclusion that the extradition of Assange “would be a repressive, unfair measure or there would be the use of judicial procedure for illegal purposes.”
WikiLeaks, in turn, noted that it would appeal against Patel’s decision to extradite Assange to the United States to the High Court in London. The organization stressed that the persecution of the Australian “has always been a political matter.”
