Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today rejected calls to publicly ask the US to drop the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange.
The Australian government has been under increasing pressure to intervene in the case since the British government last week ordered Assange's extradition to the US to face espionage charges. Assange's supporters and his lawyers say his actions are protected by the US Constitution and provisions on freedom of the press.
The Albanian, who came to power in elections a month ago, refused to say whether he had spoken to US President Joseph Biden about the case.
"Some people think that if you write things in capital letters on Twitter and put an exclamation mark, they somehow become more important. They don't," Albanese told reporters.
"I intend to lead a government that deals diplomatically and appropriately with its partners," the Australian prime minister added.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the extradition order last Sunday, following a British court ruling in April that Assange could be extradited to the US to face espionage charges.
He could receive up to 175 years in prison for the release since 2010 of more than 700.000 classified documents on US military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange, 2019, has been in London's Belmarsh prison since XNUMX, when he was arrested for breaching his parole in a separate legal case. Before that, he spent seven years at the Embassy of Ecuador in London.
Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfuss and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong responded to the British court's decision, saying the Assange case had dragged on for too long and should be ended.
They said they would continue to express that position to the British and US governments, but in their joint statement they did not go so far as to openly call on the US to drop the case.
US prosecutors said Assange helped US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military documents that were later released by WikiLeaks, putting many lives at risk.
Assange's lawyers will file an appeal against the British government's extradition decision, which could extend the proceedings for months, possibly years, according to the AP.
Assange's wife Stella Assange said that her husband is being prosecuted for uncovering war crimes and abuse of power.
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