Julian Assange’s mother slams ‘devious and dishonest’ persecution of her son

Christine Assange is dreading the next phase of prosecution against her son, Julian.

Christine Assange, mother of Julian Assange. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Christine Assange is dreading the next phase of prosecution against her son, WikiLeaks founder Julian­ Assange, and has slammed the Turnbull government for not doing more for one of its citizens.

“Our whole family is very concerned about what’s coming next, whenever we win one battle they come up with something else and it’s always devious and dishonest,” Ms Assange said.

Swedish authorities last week ended their seven-year pursuit of Mr Assange over sexual assault alleg­ations brought against him in 2010. He now faces arrest by British police for skipping bail if he leaves Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has taken polit­ical asylum since 2012.

Mr Assange and his family have always maintained the rape allegations were trumped-up accus­ations to allow the US to extradite him for publishing leaked information. “It was a bogus holding case for a US extra­dition,” Ms ­Assange said.

“It is a relief that it is all out in the open and finally Swedish authorities had to admit they had no evidence to charge him.”

With the immediate threat of extradition to Sweden now removed, Ms Assange said her son was weighing up his options.

He has indicated in the past that he would not leave until he had assurances from the US he would not be pursued for espionage and treason in regards to information WikiLeaks published.

But last month US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said arresting Mr Assange would be a priority and President Donald Trump said he would support any decision by the Justice Department to charge him.

The Assange family believed Malcolm Turnbull is a “weak US puppet” and are outraged over what they perceive as lack of adequa­te consular assistance.

“We are angry and very dis­appointed that the Australian government has not stood up for one of its citizens and the blatant abuses of Julian’s legal and human rights,” said Ms Assange.