Australian PM is ‘frustrated’ about Julian Assange’s incarceration. On Friday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was angry for not finding a diplomatic solution to Julian Assange’s confinement and concerned about his mental health.
“I know it’s frustrating, I share the frustration,” Albanese told ABC television from London, where Assange is imprisoned pending U.S. extradition.
I can state my stance; the U.S. administration knows the Australian government. So his confinement is pointless.”
Assange, an Australian citizen, is fighting extradition from Britain to the U.S., where he faces criminal accusations of leaking sensitive U.S. military data and diplomatic cables in 2010. Washington claims the materials endangered lives.
Albanese said Australians did not understand why Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. soldier and WikiLeaks source, was released while Assange was in prison.
In 2019, British authorities took Assange out of Ecuador’s London embassy after seven years. He was imprisoned in London, awaiting extradition.
Albanese wants to release Assange, who might be extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to 175 years in a maximum security jail.
“Enough is enough, this needs to be brought to a conclusion, it needs to be worked through,” Albanese added.
Albanese discussed the matter with U.S. authorities in November but did not disclose on Friday if he would raise it with President Biden on his visit to Sydney on May 24 for the Quad leaders’ summit.
“The way diplomacy works… is probably not to forecast the discussions that you will have,” he remarked.
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