President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that his administration was “considering” Australia’s request to drop charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has long opposed the detention of the WikiLeaks founder, backed a parliamentary motion in February calling for Mr. Assange, an Australian citizen, to be returned to Australia.
“We are considering it,” Mr. Biden told a reporter who asked if he had a response to Australia’s request to end Mr. Assange’s prosecution.
Mr. Albanese said his government had raised the issue at all government levels in every way possible and would remain diplomatically involved in Mr. Assange’s release. Mr. Albanese told ABC television:
“This is an encouraging comment from President Biden. I believe this must be brought to a conclusion and that Mr. Assange has already paid a significant price, and enough is enough. There’s nothing to be gained by Mr. Assange’s continued incarceration, in my very strong view. And I’ve put that as the view of the Australian government.”
Barry Pollack, Mr. Assange’s lawyer, said Mr. Biden’s comments were encouraging. Three weeks earlier, Mr. Pollack said Mr. Assange’s legal team saw no sign of resolving the US charges against him. Mr. Pollack said in an e-mail:
“It is encouraging that President Biden has confirmed that the United States is considering dropping its case against Julian Assange.”
Assange’s extradition was put on hold in March after London’s High Court said the US should provide assurances that he would not face the death penalty.
Assange, 52, is fighting extradition from Britain to the US, where he is wanted on criminal charges in connection with the release of confidential US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. Washington claims the publication of those documents jeopardised lives.
Assange has been battling extradition from London’s Belmarsh prison for the past five years, and for seven years before that he hid as a political refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital. His case has drawn condemnation from free speech advocates who say it would have a chilling effect on press freedom if his extradition is allowed.
Assange’s wife Stella in a social media post called on Biden to “do the right thing” and drop the charges.
Mr. Assange’s supporters say he is an anti-establishment hero who has been victimised for exposing US misconduct, including in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
If extradited, Assange faces up to 175 years in a maximum security prison. Numerous human rights groups, leading media organisations and leaders of countries including Mexico and Brazil have also called for Assange’s charges to be dropped.
