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US President Joe Biden has said that he is considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (www.bbc.com)

submitted 7 months ago by tardigrada@beehaw.org to c/news@beehaw.org

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/13074556

The country's parliament recently passed a measure - backed by PM Anthony Albanese - calling for the return of Mr Assange to his native Australia.

The US wants to extradite the 52-year-old from the UK on criminal charges over the leaking of military records.

Mr Assange denies the charges, saying the leaks were an act of journalism.

The president was asked about Australia's request on Wednesday and said: "We're considering it."

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[–] politicalcustard@beehaw.org 18 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They did something similar with Chelsea Manning, announced they were "thinking about a pardon" to see if there would be pushback.

It's proving to be rather embarrassing for the UK, it's clear to many here how he's been treated and how much of a stitch up the trial has been. I imagine the US could do without the international attention on this - court cases, more Russia speculation in an election year.

And the "authorities" have made their point: don't try to take the piss out of us, we will ruin your life even if we don't get you to trial. Julian Assange's case will certainly be putting off quite a few people from becoming radical journalists.