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@PID: Xnews/2006.08.24
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A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said Tuesday they met
with U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and called on her to help drop the
charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for the publication of
classified U.S. military documents.
The "Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group" said it told the U.S.
Kennedy about the "widespread concern" in Australia about the ongoing
detention of Assange, who they hope to bring home to Australia.
Assange is in the midst of a legal battle over his potential extradition
to the U.S. over Wikileaks` 2010 publication of top secret cables
detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guant?namo
Bay, Cuba, detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan. The materials leaked to
him by a whistleblower also expose instances of the CIA engaging in
torture and rendition.
Last month marked 13 years since Wikileaks published a video showing the
U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters
journalists.
The meeting with the U.S. envoy comes nearly a month after the four-year
anniversary of Assange`s detention in London. The Australian journalist
has been held at London?s high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was
removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching jail
conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy in London to avoid
extradition to Sweden over allegations he raped two women. The
investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually
dropped.
Assange wrote a letter ahead of the coronation of King Charles III last
week inviting him to visit Belmarsh Prison.
U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Australia later this month
for the Quad leaders` summit.
"There are a range of views about Assange in the Australian community and
the members of the Parliamentary Group reflect that diversity of views,"
the Australian lawmakers said in a statement Tuesday after meeting Kennedy
in Canberra. "But what is not in dispute in the Group is that Mr. Assange
is being treated unjustly."
Assange would face 17 charges for receiving, possessing and communicating
classified information to the public under the espionage act and one
charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion if he is
extradited to the U.S., and could be sentenced to as many as 175 years in
an American maximum security prison.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview last week
he was "frustrated" there has yet to be a diplomatic solution to Assange`s
continued detention and that he was concerned about the Wikileaks
founder`s mental health.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB URGES FELLOW HOUSE MEMBERS TO DEMAND DOJ DROP CHARGES
AGAINST JULIAN ASSANGE
"I can`t do more than make very clear what my position is and the U.S.
administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian government`s
position is," Albanese said. "There is nothing to be served by his ongoing
incarceration."
Last year, the editors and publishers of U.S. and European news outlets
that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from more than
250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak ? The Guardian, The
New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El Pa?s ? wrote an open letter
calling for the U.S. to end its prosecution of Assange.
The Cablegate documents Assange is facing prosecution over were leaked to
WikiLeaks by then-U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, who in 2013 was convicted
of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses.
The Obama administration decided not to indict Assange after Wikileaks
published the cables in 2010 because it would have had to do the same to
journalists from major news outlets. Former President Trump`s Justice
Department, however, later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage
Act, and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution.
Assange`s case has received the attention of some lawmakers on Capitol
Hill, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., writing a letter to the Justice
Department demanding it drop the charges against him. The other signatures
on the letter are Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman, N.Y.; Greg Casar, Texas;
Cori Bush, Mo.; Ilhan Omar, Minn.; Ayanna Pressley, Mass.; and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, N.Y.
Under the Trump administration, the CIA reportedly had plans to kill
Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as
"Vault 7," which the agency said represented "the largest data loss in CIA
history," according to a 2021 Yahoo report. The agency had discussions "at
the highest levels" of the administration about plans to assassinate
Assange in London. Following orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo,
the agency had also drawn up kill "sketches" and "options."
The CIA had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange and had made a
political decision to charge him, according to the report.
Wikileaks has also published internal communications in 2016 between the
Democratic National Committee and then-presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton`s campaign. The communications revealed the DNC`s attempts to
boost Clinton in that year`s Democratic primary.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/australian-lawmakers-meet-us-envoy-push-
end-julian-assanges-prosecution
--- Xnews/2006.08.24
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