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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has raised the plight of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in talks this week with United States President Joe Biden, stepping up efforts to find a way to release the Australian from jail.<\/p>\n
Albanese discussed Assange in his private talks in Washington DC after making public calls in recent months for a resolution to the US charges against him for releasing state secrets.<\/p>\n
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Julian Assange in 2017.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n The talks came as Assange\u2019s brother, Gabriel Shipton, told this masthead that he feared for his brother\u2019s life because of the impact of the detention on his mental health.<\/p>\n Shipton joined protestors outside the White House this week to raise awareness of the case at the same time Biden hosted Albanese at the residence.<\/p>\n Albanese confirmed to this masthead that he raised his concern about Assange in his discussions with the president during meetings that included an informal dinner, a discussion in the Oval Office at the White House and a formal meeting with Biden and his cabinet secretaries.<\/p>\n While he would not discuss his private talks with Biden or the president\u2019s view of the matter, he made it clear he believed the detention had gone on too long.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve made it clear that enough is enough \u2014 that it\u2019s time it was brought to a conclusion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gabriel Shipton (left) and supporters of Julian Assange standing at the corner of the road leading up to Blair House where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stayed while visiting Washington Dc this week. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen <\/cite><\/p>\n Shipton said Assange should be released because his work at Wikileaks had been in the public interest.<\/p>\n The Wikileaks disclosures included the \u201ccollateral murder\u201d video that showed US forces killing civilians in Iraq and the release of a trove of US diplomatic cables.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want the government to do more than just make representations to the Biden administration,\u201d Shipton said.<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally, we would like the government to act as it does for other Australians who are imprisoned overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n Shipton, who saw Assange last week, said a visit to his brother was always \u201cfull of anxiety\u201d about his brother\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s still fighting, he\u2019s hanging in there despite what he\u2019s been through and despite the adversary he\u2019s taken on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not the same man he was a year ago or even before that \u2014it\u2019s really taken its toll on him.\u201d<\/p>\n Shipton said it would be unacceptable for Assange to face trial in the US given the case is set down for a Virginia court where the community \u2014 and the jury pool \u2014 included defence and security workers.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe that Julian would receive a fair trial in the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a fairytale, to be honest, this idea that Julian would receive a fair trial or a fair deal that wouldn\u2019t see him suffering more.\u201d<\/p>\n When Australian journalists asked US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby about the case this week, Kirby said it was an extradition matter for the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n Biden faces the risk of a domestic political blowback if he intervenes in the case to drop the extradition request, with conservatives such as former Donald Trump using it against the president at the next presidential election.<\/p>\n While Biden pardoned another person involved in the Wikileaks disclosures, Chelsea Manning, he did this after she had faced trial and gone to jail.<\/p>\n US President Joe Biden pardonned Wikileaks collaborator Chelsea Manning, but that was after the former soldier had served time in jail. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen <\/cite><\/p>\n Shipton said people cared about the issue because it was becoming a sign of the \u201cinequality\u201d in the relationship between Australia and the US.<\/p>\n \u201cJulian is an Australian \u2014 he\u2019s an Australian father, he\u2019s an Australian son,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s an Australia citizen who\u2019s been unjustly imprisoned and it\u2019s up to the Australian government to defend their citizens overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople don\u2019t really understand what he even did wrong. He published truthful material,\u201d Shipton said in Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the other aspect to it is our right to know what governments do in our name, and that is important when we are in such a close relationship with the power that is imprisoning Julian for publishing national defence information about what they are doing behind closed doors.\u201c<\/p>\n Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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