Biden considering request to drop Assange prosecution

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday he is considering a request from Australia to drop the decade-long U.S. push to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing a trove of American classified documents.

For years, Australia has called on the U.S. to drop its prosecution against Assange, an Australian citizen who has fought U.S. extradition efforts from prison in the U.K. Asked about the request on Wednesday, as he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an official visit, Biden said, “We’re considering it.”

Assange has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege Assange, 52, encouraged and helped U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published, putting lives at risk.

Australia argues there is a disconnect between the U.S. treatment of Assange and Manning. Then U.S. president Barack Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence to seven, which allowed her release in 2017.

Assange’s supporters say he is a journalist protected by the First Amendment who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan in the public interest.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Biden’s comment on Assange was encouraging.

“I have said that we have raised, on behalf of Mr. Assange, Australia’s national interests that enough is enough and this needs to be brought to a conclusion and we’ve raised it at each level of government in every possible way,” he said.