Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will not be pressured to intervene publicly in Julian Assange’s extradition case, although international law experts argue that Australia’s direct involvement would have “significant” diplomatic influence.
Key points:
- The British Home Secretary has approved a US request for Mr Assange’s extradition
- Assange’s lawyers are working to appeal the decision
- Legal experts say a political solution could be found to the case
The Biden administration is seeking to extradite the co-founder of WikiLeaks to the United States on charges of piracy and espionage.
Mr Assange has been detained at Belmarsh High Security Prison in East London since April 2019, but his time there may come to an end with British Home Secretary Priti Patel, who said Friday that he had approved the U.S. extradition request.
Lawyers acting for Assange, who is an Australian citizen, say they are working on an administrative appeal against this decision, and experts say that even if it fails, there are more legal avenues to explore.
And while the Australian government is not a party to the British lawsuit, Donald Rothwell, an expert in international law at the National University of Australia’s law school, said Canberra could have a real influence if it decides to to try to stop the extradition. .
“Australia is clearly in a position to try to exert significant diplomatic influence,” Professor Rothwell told the ABC News Daily podcast.
“A political solution could be found, but whether or not the Albanian government wants to invest that level of political capital at this time, I think, remains to be seen.”
Behind-the-scenes diplomacy
Anthony Albanese will seek diplomatic options out of the public eye. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters that he would not intervene publicly to prevent Mr Assange’s extradition. That was even though he said in December, while he was the leader of the opposition, that he “did not see the point” of the “continuous persecution” of the American authorities against Assange.
The prime minister said he had not changed his position since making the comments, adding on Monday that he would not be influenced by pressure from Twitter users.
“There are people who think that if you put things in capital letters on Twitter and put an exclamation mark, somehow that makes it more important, it’s not like that,” Albanese said.
At 7.30am the ABC reported that the federal government had increased the situation of the Australian citizen behind the scenes with close allies, and the top ministers had publicly stated that they would not conduct diplomacy by “megaphone”.
“I intend to lead a government that engages diplomatically and appropriately with our partners,” Albanese told a news conference in Melbourne on Monday.
Assange’s conviction would set precedents
Assange has been in British custody since he was expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2019.
Podcast
ABC News Daily
What’s next for Julian Assange?
He has been persecuted by the U.S. government for more than a decade, and now Julian Assange is closer than ever to being extradited there on a number of charges, including espionage.
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His lawyers argue that Mr Assange’s extradition to the United States for the crimes of piracy and espionage would be illegal under UK law and a violation of his human rights.
Assange faces 18 separate charges in the United States over the publication of a series of highly classified reports related to the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Professor Rothwell says Mr Assange’s prosecution under US espionage law would set an important precedent.
“Importantly, it is important to understand that the United States alleges that Assange violated U.S. law by posting material through WikiLeaks without physically entering the United States to obtain such material,” he said.
“Any conviction on the basis of these charges would send a very significant message to anyone involved, not only as a journalist or as an editor, but also in relation to people who come into possession of information classified by national security.”
“The ramifications of that would take a long time.”
Processing “could end tomorrow”
Assange’s WikiLeaks website was first launched in 2006 and gained international attention for the first time in 2008 with the publication of classified information on procedures in the US military prison camp in the Bay of Biscay. Guantanamo to Cuba.
Two years later, in 2010, WikiLeaks was back in the spotlight, after publishing its files on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the assistance of the whistleblower and former intelligence analyst. U.S. Army Chelsea Manning.
While Manning was convicted and jailed for cybercrime and espionage in 2013, then-President Barack Obama granted him a pardon in 2017.
But Professor Rothwell says there is no indication that the United States will show a similar clemency to Mr. Assange, either by withdrawing the charges or by exercising a pardon after any conviction.
“Assange’s extradition case could end tomorrow if the U.S. Department of Justice wants to drop the extradition request,” he told ABC News Daily.
“It was thought that the election of Joe Biden could see a change of direction on the part of the United States in its search for Julian Assange, but there is no indication that [it] he will not continue to pursue this matter. “
“The Biden administration has not been really different from the Trump administration.”
“Given Chelsea Manning’s precedent, there may be a pardon or a political determination that has been achieved after a conviction, but once again we are looking at a period on the road before we get to that point. . “
One last resort
Following Friday’s announcement by the British Secretary of the Interior about the decision to extradite Mr Assange, lawyers for the co-founder of WikiLeaks are now preparing an administrative appeal against his determination.
But even if that fails, Professor Rothwell says there is still another option: an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Strasbourg-based body in France recently blocked Ms Patel’s decision to expel asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda.
Professor Rothwell says an appeal could take months, if not years.
“That would really put Assange’s extradition on hold,” he said.
“So we really need to see how this process could unfold before the European Court of Human Rights, but on its own it could take another number of years.”