Exclusive: MPs from major parties say continued extradition and prosecution would be ‘unjust’ and will lead to an ‘outcry’ in Australia
The Australian federal politicians have explicitly called on the US to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, who remains in Belmarsh prison in the UK, warning of “a sharp and sustained outcry in Australia” if the WikiLeaks founder is extradited.
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More than 60 Australian federal politicians have explicitly called on the US to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, warning of “a sharp and sustained outcry in Australia” if the WikiLeaks founder is extradited.
With a small cross-party delegation due to fly to Washington next week, the Guardian can reveal that the lobbying trip has won the open support of 63 members of Australia’s House of Representatives and Senate.
In a letter, the 63 MPs and senators said they stood in support of the trip to the US and were “resolutely of the view that the prosecution and incarceration of the Australian citizen Julian Assange must end”.
The Australian politicians noted “with gratitude the considerable support in the United States for an end to the legal pursuit of Mr Assange from members of Congress, human rights advocates, academics, and civil society, and from within the US media in defence of free speech and independent journalism”.
“On that basis we ask Congresspeople, members of the press, and other relevant civil society stakeholders in the United States to speak up now in supporting an end to the prosecution and detention of Julian Assange,” they wrote.
Alternatively, they said, “a decision to simply abandon the extradition proceedings would have the sensible, just, and compassionate effect of allowing Mr Assange to go free from a prolonged and harsh period of high-security detention”.
LOL, get fucked. Why does Australia care what happens to this rapist? I don’t get why they condone raping. I mean, I guess Australia doesn’t have any classified information that anyone would get in trouble for publishing, so it can’t be that. Right?
Rape is not why we have him, and is sort of irrelevant. If you dig into it, the original rape charge was a little dubious (or at least over-implied, but not a hill I’m gonna die on - I’m just saying there’s more there and look it up for yourself if you want the context for that comment), but the guy can get fucked for entirely different reasons.
The rape story was part of a mud campaign. It was made up and the world fell for it.
What happens here is: A journalist publishes proofs of US war crimes. And the war criminals (US gov) come after him because of exactly that. Their message is clear: who ever reports on our crimes will be destroyed.
This is a fight against press freedom and against the democratic freedom as we think to know it.
Assange is a rapist that works for Russian intelligence. Notice how he has never once published anything that puts Russia or US Republicans in bad light
He’s so smart that he fled a country that doesn’t extradite to the US (Sweden) to a country that does (UK)
Assange is a rapist that works for Russian intelligence.
Do you have any source for that?
Notice how he has never once published anything that puts Russia or US Republicans in bad light
What do you want to say? Even if we assume that’s true (I don’t, but let’s ignore that for now), what does that mean? If someone never published something that puts X in bad light, are they all spies for X then?
he has never once published anything that puts Russia or US Republicans in bad light
I don’t think that is true. With regard to Russia: https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/russia/. Wikileaks started publishing stuff about the US during the Bush presidency, and continued into Trump. I think the main factor would have been what was available to them, in terms of leaks not already exposed elsewhere. Certainly the evidence suggests they published leaks provided them to by what is likely a state (Russian) sponsored group, and that formed part of a broader pattern by that state in interfering in the US’s elections, but that is not to say they wouldn’t have published unreleased leaks in the same circumstances if they had them about another political party.
a country that doesn’t extradite to the US (Sweden) to a country that does (UK)
There has certainly been a smear campaign (psyop?) against Assange to mislead people into hating him - and reading things like your comment I think it may have been quite successful, at least with Americans.
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🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
More than 60 Australian federal politicians have explicitly called on the US to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, warning of “a sharp and sustained outcry in Australia” if the WikiLeaks founder is extradited.
With a small cross-party delegation due to fly to Washington next week, the Guardian can reveal that the lobbying trip has won the open support of 63 members of Australia’s House of Representatives and Senate.
In a letter, the 63 MPs and senators said they stood in support of the trip to the US and were “resolutely of the view that the prosecution and incarceration of the Australian citizen Julian Assange must end”.
The Australian politicians noted “with gratitude the considerable support in the United States for an end to the legal pursuit of Mr Assange from members of Congress, human rights advocates, academics, and civil society, and from within the US media in defence of free speech and independent journalism”.
“On that basis we ask Congresspeople, members of the press, and other relevant civil society stakeholders in the United States to speak up now in supporting an end to the prosecution and detention of Julian Assange,” they wrote.
Alternatively, they said, “a decision to simply abandon the extradition proceedings would have the sensible, just, and compassionate effect of allowing Mr Assange to go free from a prolonged and harsh period of high-security detention”.
Saved 72% of original text.
LOL, get fucked. Why does Australia care what happens to this rapist? I don’t get why they condone raping. I mean, I guess Australia doesn’t have any classified information that anyone would get in trouble for publishing, so it can’t be that. Right?
Rape is not why we have him, and is sort of irrelevant. If you dig into it, the original rape charge was a little dubious (or at least over-implied, but not a hill I’m gonna die on - I’m just saying there’s more there and look it up for yourself if you want the context for that comment), but the guy can get fucked for entirely different reasons.
The rape story was part of a mud campaign. It was made up and the world fell for it. What happens here is: A journalist publishes proofs of US war crimes. And the war criminals (US gov) come after him because of exactly that. Their message is clear: who ever reports on our crimes will be destroyed. This is a fight against press freedom and against the democratic freedom as we think to know it.
https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange
deleted by creator
Statute of limitations. Fleeing the country is a great trick if you can manage it. Roman Polanski had the same idea
Assange is a rapist that works for Russian intelligence. Notice how he has never once published anything that puts Russia or US Republicans in bad light
He’s so smart that he fled a country that doesn’t extradite to the US (Sweden) to a country that does (UK)
@yildo
Do you have any source for that?
What do you want to say? Even if we assume that’s true (I don’t, but let’s ignore that for now), what does that mean? If someone never published something that puts X in bad light, are they all spies for X then?
deleted by creator
I don’t think that is true. With regard to Russia: https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/russia/. Wikileaks started publishing stuff about the US during the Bush presidency, and continued into Trump. I think the main factor would have been what was available to them, in terms of leaks not already exposed elsewhere. Certainly the evidence suggests they published leaks provided them to by what is likely a state (Russian) sponsored group, and that formed part of a broader pattern by that state in interfering in the US’s elections, but that is not to say they wouldn’t have published unreleased leaks in the same circumstances if they had them about another political party.
Sweden has an extradition treaty with the US: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/10-201.22-Sweden-EU-Extradition-Treaty.pdf
There has certainly been a smear campaign (psyop?) against Assange to mislead people into hating him - and reading things like your comment I think it may have been quite successful, at least with Americans.
It serves a purpose. But an evil one: stopping journalists from reporting on US war crimes
He should not be prosecuted for material published by Wikileaks.
He should stand trial for rape in Sweden.
That is all.