CANBERRA (London Post in collaboration with AAP) Dr. Mjid khan -Supporters of Julian Assange are urging Anthony Albanese to seize the crucial opportunity to secure his release on the “litmus test” of democracy.
Public art by Assange and his whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning was unveiled in Sydney on Friday.
At the event, former journalist Dean Yates called on the prime minister to stand up for imprisoned Australians in a meeting between Joe Biden and Britain’s Rishi Sunak.
“Time is running out,” he told AAP, arguing that the next US election cycle would wipe out any chance of a favorable resolution.
“There is a growing sense among Australians that enough is enough – Albanese said himself. “It’s about time he used his personal relationship with President Biden to bring Julian home.”
Yates ran Reuters’ Baghdad bureau, where two journalists, Namir Noor-Erdeen and Saeed Chumag, were killed in US airstrikes.
The circumstances of her death were covered up by US forces until Assange posted a video of the attack on the WikiLeaks website, which led to his arrest.
Yates said the release of the Iraq War records as they became known made the couple’s deaths unforgettable, but those responsible were never held accountable.
“What Julian did was expose the lies and war crimes that were being committed in Iraq, and the hypocrisy is that he was prosecuted and is being prosecuted,” he said.
Assange’s father, John Shipton, said her son’s imprisonment was “excruciating pain” for him and his family. “Fourteen years later, the word hope is no longer in use,” he said.
But it’s booming, with growing public support for Assange and calls for his release from all sides of politics.
“The surging tide is now turning into a tsunami of aid,” he said in a Bob Dylan channel.
“You don’t have to be a weather forecaster to see which way the wind is blowing.”
Shipton said Australia, the US and the UK must end their pursuit of Assange as a moral imperative to preserve soft power on the world stage.
“Julian’s persecution situation is a violation of human rights, an asylum treaty and a disregard for due process,” he said. “This fact must change”
Yates said it would be a huge blow to public interest journalism and government accountability if Assange were extradited to the United States.
“The release of war records in Iraq and Afghanistan has killed governments.
“People need to see this case of Julian Assange as a litmus test.”
