SYDNEY: Julian Assange supporters said on Wednesday that the effort to free the Wikileaks founder is on the “cusp of success” following a concerted diplomatic drive by his home country, Australia, which claims he has been imprisoned for far too long.
Assange is being imprisoned in the United Kingdom and is fighting extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on criminal charges related to the 2010 publication of classified US military records and diplomatic cables.
Hundreds of supporters gathered at Sydney’s Hyde Park for a march across the city, which was initially scheduled to coincide with a visit by US President Joe Biden, but was canceled due to the US debt ceiling problem.
Stella Assange, Assange’s wife, flew to Australia for the protest and stated contacts with Canberra MPs were fruitful.
“What I feel intensely is a concerted effort to bring Julian home from Australian politicians, obviously from the government, and also from the Australian population,” she said.
The campaign for Assange’s release is on the “cusp of success,” according to his father, John Shipton, who spoke to Reuters separately at the march.
Australia is supporting the campaign for Assange’s release ahead of his extradition to the United States, and both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton have stated this month that his confinement has gone on for far too long.
Albanese, who advocated for Assange’s release while in opposition, discussed the issue with Biden during a November visit to the US.
Last month, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith paid a visit to the free-speech activist in prison, a meeting Albanese said he had urged.
Wikileaks sprang to popularity in 2010 after releasing thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables in the greatest security breach in US military history.
Assange’s defenders argue that he is an anti-establishment hero who has been punished for exposing US malfeasance in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that his trial is a politically motivated assault on media and free speech.
US prosecutors and Western security authorities see him as a reckless adversary of the state whose activities put the lives of agents listed in the leaked documents in jeopardy.
Former Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks’ lawyer, Stephen Kenny, told the gathering that Assange had committed no crime.
“This is a political issue that requires a political solution,” he explained.
Source: Reuters