How Julian Assange’s father is derailing his chance of a US presidential pardon

Australia spent significant political capital to get Julian Assange out of prison while the US attempted to extradite him on spying charges — but now his father has intervened.

Julian Assange’s dictator-loving dad John Shipton, who has links to the Communist Party of Australia, is derailing his chances of a US presidential pardon.

The father of the WikiLeaks founder was in Russia this week praising Vladimir Putin but he has also previously met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad who used chemical weapons on his own people.

And Mr Shipton, 80, has been a guest of the Australian Communist Party in Perth and accepted an invitation from Ireland’s Communist Party to speak in Brussels.

Australia spent significant political capital to get Assange out of London’s maximum security Belmarsh prison in June where he was being held while the United States attempted to extradite him on spying charges.

The father of Julian Assange, John Shipton, speaks during the Pro-Palestinian rally at the International Day of Solidarity with Gaza and Prisoners rally in Melbourne. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Senator Simon Birmingham, the Liberal Party’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, said Assange and his family had shown “disregard” to the efforts made to get him back to Australia.

“Julian Assange and his family have always shown far too great a regard for autocracies like Russia while acting with disregard for the interests of the democratic nations that have afforded them basic freedoms and rights,” Senator Birmingham said.

“It is attitudes like these that underscore the folly of the homecoming welcome that Anthony Albanese accorded Julian Assange.”

Mr Albanese was criticised for releasing a photograph of him on a phone call with Assange as the WikiLeaks founder was being flown back from the Northern Mariana Islands.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, pictured here speaking with Julian Assange to welcome him home in June.

Assange had pleaded guilty to “conspiring with Chelsea Manning” to release classified documents, which the United States claimed had put their sources in Afghanistan and Iraq at risk.

The trip cost almost $800,000 but taxpayers were reimbursed by a charity, which picked up the bill.

Assange’s brother Gabe Shipton has been lobbying United States President Joe Biden to grant him a pardon before he leaves office in January.

But John Shipton’s Russia propaganda visit has dented those hopes, which were already optimistic given fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton had labelled Assange a “tool of Russian intelligence” after WikiLeaks published damaging emails that derailed her 2016 election campaign.

Russia’s state owned news outlet Ria Novosti released an interview this week with Mr Shipton, where he praised Vladimir Putin. Picture: AFP

Russia’s state owned news outlet Ria Novosti released an interview this week with Mr Shipton, where he praised Vladimir Putin.

“Your President Putin in 2012 was the first head of state to defend Julian’s interests as a publisher and a citizen,” Mr Shipton said.

He then added a slap to Australia, saying Putin supported his son at “a time when Julian was receiving every smearing lie and calumny that the institutions of state and those hangers-on in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia could deliver upon his head.”

Stella Assange, wife of Julian Assange, has shared a family picture to X.

Assange has been living in Australia with his wife Stella and their two children, who were born while he was still holed up in London’s Ecuadorian embassy.

He has not been allowed to return to the UK as part of his plea deal, which set a precedent for other people to be charged for leaking classified information.

Stella Assange distanced herself from Mr Shipton’s Russian visit this week.

“Anyone who has followed Julian already knows Julian believes in extreme scepticism when it comes to all states with large intelligence sectors, who have committed war crimes, engaged in censorship, or sought to imprison or assassinate journalists,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Richard Titelius, of the Communist Party of Australia, said that Mr Shipton was not a member of the party and questioned his support for Putin.

“Vladimir Putin is no communist,” he said from Perth. “When the Communist Party in Russia was trying to campaign before the last election he set up loudspeakers to drown out their speeches.”

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Originally published as How Julian Assange’s father is derailing his chance of a US presidential pardon