‘Enough is Enough’: Australian PM Frustrated by Biden’s Refusal to Drop Assange Charges
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was frustrated by President Joe Biden’s failure to stop the US government’s prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, despite the Australian government making its position “very clear.”
In an interview with Australia’s ABC News on Thursday, Albanese claimed that he continues “to say in private” to the Biden administration “what I’ve said as Prime Minister, that enough is enough.”
“This needs to be brought to a conclusion,” he said, before revealing that his government had made it “very clear” to the Biden administration “what our position is on Mr Assange’s case.”
“I know it’s frustrating. I share the frustration. I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is,” Albanese continued. “And the US administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian government’s position is.”
Albanese also protested the difference in treatment between whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who provided WikiLeaks with classified information, and Assange, who published the information. The Australian prime minister noted that while Manning, an American citizen, was now a free woman after having her 35 year prison sentence for violating the US Espionage Act commuted to just seven years, Assange was still being prosecuted.
“There is a disconnect there,” he said.
Assange — an Australian citizen and a member of Australia’s MEAA union of journalists — has been imprisoned in London’s maximum security HMP Belmarsh prison since April 2019, awaiting extradition to the US. Assange’s extradition was approved by the UK’s then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in June 2022. Assange has appealed the decision.
Australian leader of the opposition Peter Dutton also told ABC News that the US government’s prosecution of Assange had “gone on for too long” and said it was a “good thing” that Albanese was fighting for the matter to be resolved.
Last year, an open letter calling for charges against Assange to be dropped was signed by the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El Pais.
The letter, which was published under the title “Publishing is Not a Crime,” warned the indictment of Assange set “a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.”
In 2021, a separate open letter calling for the charges to be dropped was signed by prominent human rights and free press organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, PEN America, and Reporters Without Borders.
