Julian Assange is being detained in the United Kingdom and battling extradition to the United States, where he faces criminal charges over the release of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables in 2010.
However, Assange’s wife said, “We’re the closest we’ve ever been” to secure his release at the National Press Club on Monday.
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Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, also believes 2023 will be the year his brother will be released, as a Free Julian Assange Rally in Sydney saw over 1,000 people in attendance on Wednesday.
On today’s The Briefing, we are joined by Shipton to find out whether Assange will be free this year.
For the first time, both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have publicly agreed that the founder of WikiLeaks has been imprisoned for too long.
I continue to say in private what I said publicly as Labor leader and what I’ve said as Prime Minister, that enough is enough,”
Mr Albanese said.
The comment has given Shipton and Assange’s supporters hope to believe he would be free at the end of the year.
The Australian Government is really the only government that can represent Julian at a diplomatic level,”
Shipton said.
He said the Australian Government engaged their diplomats in UK High Commissioner Stephen Smith and Kevin Rudd to work on Assange’s case.
I don’t really deal with hope. We’ve been fighting this for so long, and we’re up against such a large adversary, but we have the support of the Australian people Now.”
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