First modification:
A beacon of hope for Julian Assange? Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his desire to see the WikiLeaks founder released, despite the fact that he has been imprisoned in London for four years and that his few visits attest to his deteriorating state of health . This is a wish shared by the leader of the Australian opposition; it is the first time that there has been an agreement that crosses the party divisions on Julian Assange.
With our correspondent in Sydney, Grégory Plesse
Labor Party member Anthony Albanese says he has repeatedly called on the US government to stop pursuing Julian Assange, to no avail so far. The WikiLeaks founder, an Australian citizen, is charged with revealing confidential documents and undermining US national security. He faces 175 years in jail.
Currently in London, where he will attend the coronation of Carlos III tomorrow, Saturday, May 6, he has expressed his anger over this matter to ABC News: “Enough is enough. We have to put an end to this. And we have to work on it, even through diplomatic channels, but we have made our position very clear on the case of Mr Assange”.
The problem is that last month Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, said that diplomacy had its limits and that at her level there wasn’t much she could do.
Towards a conversation with Joe Biden
Even more surprisingly, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also said that Julian Assange’s imprisonment had gone on for too long, whereas during the ten years of Conservative rule, of which he was one of the most prominent members, Australia had shown no no interest in the fate of one of its citizens.
Anthony Albanese said he would speak directly to Joe Biden when he goes to Sydney in a fortnight’s time for a Quad Security Dialogue summit, which will also be attended by the Indian and Japanese prime ministers.
