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AUSTRALIA’S federal government is said to be lobbying behind the scenes to secure the freedom of Julian Assange after Britain’s decision to approve his extradition to the United States.
According to the the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age newspapers, senior sources have said that the case of the Wikileaks founder has been raised with US government officials.
On Friday British Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed to Washington’s extradition request citing court decisions that found it would not be unjust or an abuse of his human rights to do so.
Despite admitting to spying on one of Mr Assange’s lawyers earlier this month and an alleged CIA plot to assassinate the journalist on the streets of London, Ms Patel believed he would be treated fairly.
Mr Assange has 14 days to appeal the decision with experts suggesting that the case could take months or even years to resolve, leaving him locked up in a high security prison despite having committed no crime.
He faces 175 years behind bars under the draconian Espionage Act for revealing war crimes committed by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously expressed support for Mr Assange.
But his Labour government has come under fire from some quarters for not doing enough to secure his release.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, the chair of the Bring Julian Assange Home parliamentary group, said that “time’s up for the new federal government hinting at caring and then doing nothing.
“The new Australian government is now to be condemned for abandoning an Australian hero journalist facing the very real prospect of spending the rest of his life rotting in a US prison.”
But former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr said that the discussions over Mr Assange’s release would be “governed by sensitive, nuanced alliance diplomacy appropriate between partners.”
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“I trust the judgement of Prime Minister Albanese on this, given his recent statement cautioning against megaphone diplomacy and his comments last December,” he said.
