SYDNEY: Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, revealed on Wednesday that he had personally urged US authorities to drop their case against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, by saying, “Enough is enough.”
Assange imprisoned in London
Australian national Assange has been imprisoned in London since 2019 while waiting for extradition to the US to stand prosecution for disclosing US military secrets regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts in 2010.
“I stated that enough is enough some time ago. The moment has come to put an end to this situation, Albanese informed the legislature.”I personally brought up this issue with officials from the US administration. My stance is quite clear. The Australian president declared that he did not share the 51-year-compassion old for many of his deeds.
Purpose of this proceeding
But he questioned: “What is the purpose of this proceeding, this legal action, which may be delayed for many years to come?”After serving time for jumping bail in a previous case and spending years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy, Assange has been detained in London’s high-security Belmarsh jail since 2019. If proven convicted in the US, he may spend decades in prison.
Albanese likened the treatment of Assange to that of Chelsea Manning, whose 35-year prison term for stealing classified secrets was reduced by then-President Barack Obama in 2017. According to Albanese, Manning “is now allowed to engage freely in US society.”