Assange, activists sit in on Saturday against judicial persecution of the WikiLeaks founder

Pro-Assange activists from around the world will hold sit-ins outside Australian embassies and consulates on Saturday 2 September 2023 to call on the Australian government to take more concrete and visible measures to stop the judicial persecution of Julian Assange. Journalist and editor of Australian origin is currently detained in England awaiting extradition to the United States where he will be tried for revealing alleged war crimes committed by the United States and England in Iraq and Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected Australia's request for the US to end its prosecution of Julian Assange, objecting that the Wikileaks founder "risked causing very serious harm to our national security".

The statement, which took place on the occasion of the meeting in Brisbane, Australia, of the Foreign and Defense ministers of the two countries (Ausmin) dedicated to military cooperation and in particular on nuclear submarines, is reported by the Guardian. Blinken confirmed that the Australian counterpart has raised the Assange issue several times, saying he "understands the reasons and concerns of the Australians", but objected that it is also important that they understand the US concern about the Australian 'whistleblower', detained in England and awaiting a verdict on the extradition requested by Washington, for his "alleged role in one of the largest compromises of confidential information in the history of our country". In addition to Blinken, the Brisbane meeting was attended by the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, and the Australian ministers of Defense, Richard Marles, and Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong.