Australia: Politicians urge PM Scott Morrison intervene in Julian Assange's US extradition

Australian parliamentarians have urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's case, UK-based The Guardian reported. Assange, an Australian citizen faces espionage charges in the US and has been in a UK prison since 2019 after being arrested for violating bail conditions. On Friday, the US' extradition appeal for Assange was granted by a UK court.

Fifty-year-old Assange was charged in the US for an alleged conspiracy to obtain and divulge sensitive information after his website WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of hacked documents linked to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The US' extradition appeal was rejected by a UK court in January which ruled that there was a real and "oppressive" risk of suicide. However, the UK High Court, on Friday granted the US' appeal after a two-day hearing. 

The High Court found that the risk of Assange committing suicide was minimised by guarantees from American authorities that if he was extradited, he would not be kept in an extremely restrictive jail environment.

Assange's lawyers have stated that they aim to appeal the ruling, this time at the UK Supreme Court.

'Political witch-hunt': Aussie leaders claim Assange not receiving fair trial

"Julian Assange, an Australian citizen is fighting for his life in London, as the USA seeks his extradition to face an effective death sentence," Australian MP Julian Hill stated in a series of tweets. 

"This Australian, who exposed US war crimes, is treated worse than a war criminal. He’s NOT receiving a fair trial, (sic)" Hill added.

In a subsequent tweet, the Australian MP said that there will never be a legal solution to Julian Assange’s case as it is "an inherently political witch-hunt."  He urged the Australian Government to stand up to the US and the UK and "stop this extradition."

Greens senator Janet Rice echoed Hill and said that Assange‘s prosecution has always been political.

"It’s going to need a political response from our government to get justice for him," she added and urged Foreign Minister Marise Payne to "urgently speak to the US and tell them to drop these absurd charges and end Assange’s torture."

"The prime minister must get Assange home. An Australian citizen is being prosecuted for publishing details of war crimes, yet our government sits on its hands and does nothing,” another Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told The Guardian.

Since 2019, Assange has been detained in the UK's Belmarsh prison after being arrested from outside the Ecuadorian embassy for violating his bail conditions. He had entered the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex offence charges, which were subsequently dropped.

(With inputs from agencies, Image: AP)