Biden contemplating halting Julian Assange’s prosecution

President Joe Biden is weighing ending the yearslong prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stemming from his 2010 publication of classified United States Army intelligence.

Assange is being held by the authorities in the United Kingdom. A U.K. judge ruled in March that Assange cannot be extradited to the U.S. without guarantees that he will not receive a death sentence.

Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Wednesday for a state visit, in which he was asked by reporters about the case.

“We’re considering it,” Biden said when asked about Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s request that the president end the prosecution of Assange, an Australian citizen.

The White House has largely avoided commenting on the charges against Assange, which include violations of the Espionage Act and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

In 2010, Assange published footage of U.S. airstrikes in Baghdad, Iraq, diplomatic cables, and classified communications from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, all provided by former U.S. Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning.

Assange eventually was granted political amnesty at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012, but his amnesty was revoked seven years later in 2019. He has since been held in U.K. custody while awaiting extradition to the U.S.

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Albanese called on Biden to end the case against Assange rapidly in February of this year after Australia’s Parliament passed a motion calling for Assange to be returned to his home country rather than the U.S.

“I hope this can be resolved. I hope it can be resolved amicably. It’s not up to Australia to interfere in the legal processes of other countries, but it is appropriate for us to put our very strong view that those countries need to take into account the need for this to be concluded,” Albanese said at the time. “Regardless of where people stand, this thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely.”