Published:
Oct 13, 2022 11:28 GMT
The request came after Australia’s attorney general said the persecution of the journalist “has gone on long enough” but declined to disclose further details.
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently jailed in the UK, have called on the Australian government to reveal if you are making progress in the talks with the United States to secure his release while fighting his extradition, approved by London, reports Guardian.
Assange, of Australian origin, is accused in the US for the publication of secret documents and can face up to 175 years in prison if he is extradited to the North American country.
The request for information came after Australia’s Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, said the persecution of the journalist “has gone on long enough” but declined to reveal any further details.
“I’ll say it again, [el caso de Assange] it has lasted long enough, but we are not going to demonstrate our dealings with the United States Government in public. I won’t say more about that“, declared Dreyfus.
“The Government is floating on the water”
In this regard, Greg Barns, legal advisor to the Australian campaign in support of Assange, said that he believes it is time for the Australian Government give the public an update extensive on any progress.
The more time passes without people receiving details of the case, the more Assange supporters “would feel like they’re floating on water, and the government is floating on water,” Barns explained. He clarified that he is not asking for “briefing notes or memos”, but rather some information “on the progress that is being made”, which “would be very useful” to the journalist’s Australian supporters and his family.
In addition, Barns insisted that the Australian authorities must pay attention to the impaired physical and mental health Assange, as he is isolated in his cell after testing positive for coronavirus last Saturday. “He is an inmate in a maximum security prison with a weakened health system who now has covid-19. This should be alarming to any Australian government,” he said.
“The only crime he committed is telling the truth”
On October 8, thousands of Assange supporters demonstrated in London and Washington against his extradition to the US.
“The only crime he committed is telling the truth,” said the American journalist Chris Hedges, quoted by TRNN, during the protests. He added that “it is not justifiable to charge him under the US Espionage Act” since he “is not a US citizen.”
