"Enough is enough"

Australia condemns prosecution of Assange

Assange was arrested by British police in 2019 after hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years to avoid extradition.

(Bild: Frank Augstein)

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the years-long legal persecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Regardless of people's views on Assange, "this thing can't just go on and on and on". According to Assange's wife, he could also soon be deported to the USA.

Australians from different political camps have the same opinion, the Prime Minister continued: "Enough is enough." On Wednesday, the Australian parliament, with the support of the head of government, passed a motion calling for an end to the prosecution of 52-year-old Assange so that he can return to his family in Australia.

Hearing planned
A hearing for Assange, an Australian citizen who has been imprisoned in the UK since 2019, is scheduled for next week. The court will review a judge's earlier decision in June, which refused to allow Assange to appeal against his extradition to the USA. A final decision will be made as to whether the Wikileaks founder has exhausted all legal remedies against his extradition or whether he may continue to appeal against it in the British courts. If the appeal is rejected by the High Court in London, the extradition proceedings against Assange would then begin.

Albanese said he had raised the case "at the highest levels" in the UK and the US.

This is where the UK's most dangerous criminals sit: murderers, rapists and terrorists. And this is where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being held.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS; krone.at-Grafik)

Sitting in Belmarsh maximum security prison
Assange was arrested by British police in 2019 after hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years to avoid extradition. Since then, he has been held in the high-security Belmarsh prison in south-east London.

Assange could soon be deported to the USA, according to his wife
His wife Stella warned in London on Thursday that her husband could be extradited to the USA against his will. The 52-year-old faces what could be the final hearing in the legal tug-of-war over his extradition at London's High Court next week. 

The question is whether Assange will be given the opportunity to appeal against the British government's extradition order in the UK. He had previously been denied this. Stelle fears that the verdict will be announced on Wednesday and that the extradition process will then begin immediately.

Assange is accused of publishing around 700,000 confidential documents on US military and diplomatic activities, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, from 2010 onwards. If convicted, the 52-year-old Australian could face decades in prison.

The British government agreed to his extradition in June 2022, but Assange lodged an appeal. Assange's wife, Stella Assange, asked US President Joe Biden to pardon her husband in July.