Byron Shire Council push for release of WikiLeaks founder, Northern Rivers man Julian Assange

It’s been more than a decade since Northern Rivers man and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ‘was first detained over leaking confidential info.

Assange acknowledged his supporters in court. Picture: AFP

It’s been more than a decade since Northern Rivers man and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was first detained over leaking confidential documents, prompting a renewed Byron push for his freedom.

The 51-year-old has faced a long fight trying to avoid extradition to the US from the UK, after he was first locked up in December 2010.

A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a placard outside of the Houses of Parliament, in London, on October 8, 2022. Picture: Niklas Halle’n/AFP

Widespread concerns have arisen about Assange’s mental health and wellbeing.

The US believes the release of confidential documents through WikiLeaks helped facilitate possible war crimes and led to civilian casualties.

The documents included Afghanistan War logs and Guantanamo Bay files said to be supplied by former United States Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

Assange was charged with 17 counts under the Espionage Act, involving receipt, obtaining and disclosing national security information.

Julian Assange sends a pre recorded message to Splendour in the Grass on July 26, 2013. Picture: AAP Image/Damian Shaw

He was also charged with one count of conspiracy to assist Chelsea Manning to crack a US Department of Defence password allowing access to classified information.

In Byron Bay, councillor Duncan Day put a forward a motion for a November meeting urging Mayor Michael Lyon to assist in awareness and the release of Assange.

It called on Cr Lyon to write to US President Joe Biden to encourage him to “show clemency by intervening in the extraction and prosecution”.

The motion also urged Cr Lyon “to instruct the Attorney-General and the US Department of Justice to withdrawal all charges on medical and humanitarian grounds”.

It encouraged Cr Lyon to write to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, requesting they contact Mr Biden and US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy to assist.

A UN Peace Rally to free Julian Assang in Melbourne in 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nicki Connolly

“(They need to) express Australia’s concerns regarding Mr Assange’s prosecution,” the motion states.

It also states any lack of action would be because of the country’s “subservient social positioning in relation to the US as a nation”.

“Transparency is important, especially when it comes to government,” Cr Dey said.

He said he was “opposed to secrecy” but understood it was occasionally needed, and argued most of the content WikiLeaks published should have been public knowledge.

“The content Assange exposed is what everyone should have already known about … governments should not be using clandestine methods to do anything at all and that’s a part of what Julian Assange exposed,” he said.

Councillor Duncan Dey. Picture: Byron Shire website

“The part that has most offended governments is the fact that their secrets were made public.”

Cr Dey said at the meeting a huge number of people in the shire cared about Assange’s health and wellbeing and wanted charges to be dropped so he is able to return to northern NSW.

“Whenever we have rallies, it always gets a following. It’s reflective of how the general population feels about the matter,” he said.

“I would not have expected that the council staff would bring me a report suggesting that motion, but it is within the council law to make something like this their business.”

Cr Dey said it’s important for the community to be concerned about Assange.

Croatian journalists hold signs as they take part in a demonstration in solidarity with the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to oppose his extradition and urge the US government to drop all charges against him, in Zagreb on October 8, 2022. Picture: Damir Sencar / AFP

“He is an Australian citizen,” Councillor Dey said.

“If the roles were reversed and Australia was trying to extradite an American citizen from the UK for a phony accusation, the US would have jumped into Australia to rescue an American citizen.”

Northern Rivers NSW 4 Assange member Roy Edward Drew attended the meeting.

He said people have expressed disappointment, anger and sadness about the complicity of the Australian government in the treatment of an Australian citizen.

“It’s important that Julian Assange’s name is kept in the public mind so that he is not forgotten in the way that certain powers would prefer,” he said.

The Assange group has held market stalls in Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and Ocean Shores, and collected 2000 local signatures on a petitions to Mr Albanese.

Mr Drew begged people to support Cr Dey’s motion “to build public pressure for Julian’s release”.

Julian Assange with first son Gabriel. He secretly fathered two sons to Stella Morris while living in the Ecuadorean embassy. Picture: Stella Morris

“It would let a little slither of light into a dark world,” he said.

Another member of the group, Derick Spice said at the meeting: “Julian Assange has been deprived of his liberty by people in high places for more than ten years.”

“They do not like to hear the truths published about them in the natural process of journalism,” he said.

“This miscarriage of justice can be remedied if proud Australians speak out for him.”

“Mr Assange’s impending prosecution by the United States of America constitutes a serious attack on the fundamental democratic freedoms of the press.”