48 senators and members of Australia’s federal parliament and 35 lords and MPs in the UK, from all sides of politics, have written open letters to the USA Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for him to drop the charges against Australian publisher, Julian Assange.
The Australian letter, published here, coincides with the fourth anniversary of Assange’s detention in London’s maximum security Belmarsh Prison, as he faces extradition on espionage charges.
Letter to United States Attorney General
The Honourable Merrick B. Garland
Attorney General of the United States of America
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW WASHINGTON DC 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General
We write to you as Australian parliamentarians from the Government, Opposition and crossbench to call on you to end the extradition proceedings against Australian citizen, Mr Julian Assange.
Mr Assange is the Australian journalist and publisher, currently detained in His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh in London awaiting a decision on extradition to the United States of America.
As you would be aware, the previous US Administration brought charges against Mr Assange for seventeen counts relating to allegedly obtaining and disclosing information under the Espionage Act of 1917, and one count under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1968.
The charges pertain to Mr Assange’s actions, as a journalist and publisher for WikiLeaks, in publishing information with evidence of war crimes, corruption and human rights abuses.
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.
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 US as a world leader on freedom of expression and the rule of law.
International experts oppose the continued persecution of Mr Assange, including the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, and the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, as well as human rights organisations, various heads of state and parliamentarians from around the world.
Attorney General, Australian public opinion on this matter is clear. Indeed, polling shows that 88 per cent of Australians either support, or are unopposed, to calls for Mr Assange to be brought back to Australia.
Mr Assange has been effectively incarcerated for well over a decade in one form or another, yet the person who leaked classified information had their sentence commuted and has been able to participate in American society since 2017.
A clear majority of Australians consider that this matter has gone on for far too long and must be brought to a close.
We implore you to drop the extradition proceedings and allow Mr Assange to return home.
Yours sincerely
Australian Parliamentarians
Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Senator for Queensland
Michelle Ananda-Rajah MP, Member for Higgins
Bridget Archer MP, Member for Bass
Senator Ralph Babet, Senator for Victoria
Adam Bandt MP, Member for Melbourne
Stephen Bates MP, Member for Brisbane
Senator The Hon Matthew Canavan, Senator for Queensland
Max Chandler-Mather MP, Member for Griffith
Kate Chaney MP, Member for Curtin
Senator Dorinda Cox, Senator for Western Australia
Zoe Daniel MP, Member for Goldstein
The Hon Warren Entsch MP, Member for Leichhardt
Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Senator for New South Wales
Dr Mike Freelander MP, Member for Macarthur
Dr Helen Haines MP, Member for Indi
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator for South Australia
Julian Hill MP, Member for Bruce
The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, Member for New England
Peter Khalil MP, Member for Wills
Tania Lawrence MP, Member for Hasluck
Zaneta Mascarenhas MP, Member for Swan
Senator Nick McKim, Senator for Tasmania
Brian Mitchell MP, Member for Lyons
Llew O’Brien MP, Member for Wide Bay
Alicia Payne MP, Member for Canberra
Graham Perrett MP, Member for Moreton
Senator Barbara Pocock, Senator for South Australia
Senator David Pocock, Senator for Australian Capital Territory
Senator Gerard Rennick, Senator for Queensland
Senator Janet Rice, Senator for Victoria
Senator Malcolm Roberts, Senator for Queensland
Dr Monique Ryan MP, Member for Kooyong
Dr Sophie Scamps MP, Member for Mackellar
Rebekha Sharkie MP, Member for Mayo
Senator David Shoebridge, Senator for New South Wales
Allegra Spender MP, Member for Wentworth
Senator Jordon Steele-John, Senator for Western Australia
Zali Steggall OAM MP, Member for Warringah
Susan Templeman MP, Member for Macquarie
Senator Lidia Thorpe, Senator for Victoria
Kylea Tink MP, Member for North Sydney
Maria Vamvakinou MP, Member for Calwell
Senator Larissa Waters, Senator for Queensland
Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP, Member for Ryan
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, Senator for Tasmania
Andrew Wilkie MP, Member for Clark
Josh Wilson MP, Member for Fremantle
Tony Zappia MP, Member for Makin
Graphic used with permission by Peter Kennard
The White House has previously said Joe Biden was “committed to an independent Department of Justice” when asked about the Assange case.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who also serves as co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Julian Assange Group says the 48 federal lawmakers from Australia were representing millions of constituents by working “in concert with similar letters from parliamentarians from around the world.”
“This is no small matter and must not be dismissed,” Wilkie said. “Nor should it be ignored that the outpouring of political concern spans the political spectrum and is based on a diverse range of reasons.”
UK Parliamentarians call on USA to drop the charges
In the UK, 35 MPs and lords from six parties say that Mr Assange faces up to 175 years in a US jail “for his publishing work which was carried out in the United Kingdom and in partnership with globally leading news outlets.”
They call on Merrick Garland to drop the proceedings, which date back to former US president Donald Trump’s administration and, it is claimed, relate to Assange’s “role as a journalist and publisher in publishing evidence of war crimes, corruption and human rights abuses”.
They warn that the extradition of an award-winning journalist and publisher “would have a chilling impact on journalism and set a dangerous precedent for other journalists and media organisations. It would also undermine the US’s reputation on freedom of expression and the rule of law.”
UK signatories include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, 14 Labour MPs, Tory MP David Davis, Green MP Caroline Lucas, Claudia Webbe, Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts, two SNP MPs and Kenny MacAskill from the Alba Party. It was also signed by cross-bench, Labour, Lib Dem and Tory peers.
The Australian and UK open letters by elected parliamentarians join a long list of publishers, journalist unions and civil rights groups calling for the USA to drop the charges against Julian Assange
Graphic used with permission by Peter Kennard
