US President Joe Biden has said that he is considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
US President Joe Biden has said that he is considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
Australia wants the US president to end attempts to extradite the Wikileaks founder from the UK.
Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/13074556
The country's parliament recently passed a measure - backed by PM Anthony Albanese - calling for the return of Mr Assange to his native Australia.
The US wants to extradite the 52-year-old from the UK on criminal charges over the leaking of military records.
Mr Assange denies the charges, saying the leaks were an act of journalism.
The president was asked about Australia's request on Wednesday and said: "We're considering it."
"Political figure makes non-committal statement, news at 11"
I am still not clear what supposed crime he has committed other then pissing powerful people off. He should get a reward for that.
Espionage Act. Which is basically that. Pissing off the War Pigs, specifically.
He published information that "could aid the enemy" and "damage own personnel". According to the military, that's a crime, even if (or moreso if) it's done by revealing war crimes committed by the military itself.
He also published, and was about to publish more, compromising information about a bunch of other people who have lobbying influence over the US government.
And he has got multiple awards... just not from the people he's pissed off 🙂
They did something similar with Chelsea Manning, announced they were "thinking about a pardon" to see if there would be pushback.
It's proving to be rather embarrassing for the UK, it's clear to many here how he's been treated and how much of a stitch up the trial has been. I imagine the US could do without the international attention on this - court cases, more Russia speculation in an election year.
And the "authorities" have made their point: don't try to take the piss out of us, we will ruin your life even if we don't get you to trial. Julian Assange's case will certainly be putting off quite a few people from becoming radical journalists.