Washington, Oct. 27, (dpa/GNA) – During his state visit to the US, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese renewed his efforts for the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, imprisoned in the United Kingdom.
He said he had directly addressed US President Joe Biden during informal talks this week about his concerns for the 52-year-old Australian, who has been held in a London prison for four and a half years. The prime minister confirmed this to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Friday.
“I’ve made it clear that enough is enough — that it’s time it was brought to a conclusion,” the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted the prime minister as saying on Friday.
Albanese did not comment on the direct content of the talks or Biden’s reaction.
Assange has been in a British prison since April 2019, and before that he had been stuck in Ecuador’s embassy in London for seven years, to avoid arrest and extradition to the US.
The United States accuses Assange, together with US whistleblower Chelsea Manning, of stealing and publishing classified material from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the US says put the lives of in-country informants at risk. If extradited, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.
Supporters of Assange see him as a courageous journalist who brought war crimes to light. The government in London has agreed to the extradition, but the legal tug-of-war is not yet over.
Albanese has repeatedly campaigned for Assange’s release since he took office last year.
Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton said he was “full of anxiety” for him after a recent visit to the prison. “He’s still fighting, he’s hanging in there despite what he’s been through and despite the adversary he’s taken on,” Shipton said. “He’s not the same man he was a year ago or even before that —it’s really taken its toll on him,” he said.
GNA