Australia slams US for refusing to drop Assange case

  Australia has rebuked the US for its refusal to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange and said it will continue to work to get Washington to drop its court case against the WikiLeaks founder. "It took too long. Enough is enough," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Tuesday. "We remain, and will continue to be, very steadfast in our view and representations to the US government," he added. An Australian citizen, Assange, sought refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London before the diplomatic mission handed him over to British authorities in April 2019.

He is currently being held in London's Belmarsh Prison where he is fighting extradition to the US. The American authorities want to bring Assange to justice because in 2010 WikiLeaks released confidential military documents related to war crimes and other atrocities by US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington has indicted him on 18 counts in connection with the release of 500,000 classified files on US military interference in the countries. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison in the US. On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Washington's determination to bring Assange to justice on American soil. Blinken claimed that Assange's actions "risked very serious damage to our national security for the benefit of our opponents and put named individuals at great risk of physical harm and at great risk of imprisonment." "