WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gets backing of Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Joyce says Australia should step up diplomatic efforts to stop the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US after he serves his jail time in the UK for breach of bail.
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Barnaby Joyce is calling on the federal government to stop the extradition of Julian Assange from the United Kingdom to America.
The outspoken Nationals backbencher wants Australia to step up its diplomatic efforts once the WikiLeaks founder serves his jail time in the UK.
“I support the proper process of Australian law as applied to our citizens in our land in respect of our laws; it is the essence of sovereignty,” Mr Joyce told Nine Newspapers.
“If someone was in another country at a time an alleged event occurred then the sovereignty of the land they were in has primacy over the accusation of another nation.”
Mr Joyce continued: “It would be totally unreasonable, for instance, if China was to say the actions of an Australian citizen whilst in Australia made them liable to extradition to China to answer their charges of their laws in China. Many in Hong Kong have the same view.”
However, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg appears unmoved by his coalition colleague’s entreaty.
“He (Assange) ultimately will face the justice for what he’s been alleged to have done, but that is a legal process that will run its course,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC News today.
“But we will continue, as a government, to provide him with the appropriate consular services.”
Assange will appear in Westminster Magistrates Court this month as his lawyers prepare to file his defence.
The WikiLeaks founder appeared at the London court via video link on Friday for a short hearing to extend his remand.
Assange, 48, wearing a blue sweatshirt and tracksuit pants, had grown a beard.
He wore a pair of glasses on his head and hugged himself as if he were cold when he appeared on the screen in the court.
Clair Dobbin, for Mr Assange, said that his defence would be filed by October 18.
Assange only spoke to confirm his name and date of birth, but asked his guard to clarify the date of his next appearance, which was due on Monday, October 21.
Deputy senior district judge Tan Ikram extended Assange’s bail, saying: “I very much hope we can make some progress on this case.”
Assange has been kept on remand while he awaits an extradition hearing in February next year to the United States over spying charges that carry a maximum 175-year sentence.
The charges relate to the dump of thousands of classified government documents on the WikiLeaks website, which were then widely reported.
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The United States has claimed the document dump risked the lives of its informers and spies.
Assange has claimed that he was acting as a journalist and that his freedom of speech was denied.
The WikiLeaks founder was sentenced to 50 weeks jail for breaching bail by spending more than seven years in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
He remains under investigation in Sweden over a rape allegation, which was the reason he stayed inside the embassy.
Originally published as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gets backing of Barnaby Joyce
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