Dozens of Australian Lawmakers Sign Letter Demanding U.S. End Request for Assange Extradition

April 11, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The London Guardian reports that 48 Australian federal legislators—members of parliament and senators—have signed a joint letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling on the U.S. to abandon its attempts to have Julian Assange extradited from Britain for trial.

The open letter, released on April 11, called on Garland to “drop the extradition proceedings and allow Mr. Assange to return home” to Australia.

“If the extradition request is approved, Australians will witness the deportation of one of our citizens from one AUKUS partner to another—our closest strategic ally—with Mr. Assange facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison,” write the legislators.

“This would set a dangerous precedent for all global citizens, journalists, publishers, media organizations and the freedom of the press. It would also be needlessly damaging for the U.S. as a world leader on freedom of expression and the rule of law.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is among the signers, and 13 of the legislators are members of the governing Labor Party.

A week ago, on April 4, Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom visited Assange in the high-security HM Prison Belmarsh—Assange has not been charged with any crime in the United Kingdom—an action which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is said to have “encouraged” him to carry out.