As US ‘considers’ Assange request union writes to Labor

Hours after US President Joe Biden signalled he was considering an Australian request to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, a union is pressuring the government to continue its lobbying.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong urging them to publicly call upon the US government to drop its charges against the WikiLeaks’ founder.

Overnight in Washington, Mr Biden was asked if he had a response to Australia’s request to end Assange’s prosecution.

“We are considering it,” he said, according to Reuters.

The US government has pursued Assange for years after he released troves of confidential classified documents on the internet.

It wants to extradite him from the United Kingdom to face criminal charges.

Mr Albanese in February backed a motion moved by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie in the lower house of the federal parliament calling for the return of Assange, 52, to Australia.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s letter to the government on Thursday comes on the fifth anniversary of Assange’s detention in the UK.

“We are writing to urge you in the strongest possible terms to take immediate public action to demand the United States government drop the charges against Julian Assange so he can resume life as a free man in Australia,” alliance federal president Karen Percy said.

“As we draw closer to the US Presidential election, the opportunity for a satisfactory resolution to this case diminish.”

US prosecutors want to try Assange on 18 counts, mainly under the Espionage Act, over WikiLeaks’ release in 2010 of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables.