'He uncovered war crimes': Greens leader urges government to protect Julian Assange

• Fergus Hunter

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Greens leader Richard Di Natale says the Australian government should be making use of its close relationship with the United States to campaign against the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Assange's father, John Shipton, has urged the Morrison government to provide special assistance to Assange, suggesting he could somehow be brought to Australia.

 Julian Assange faces up to five years in prison in the US if convicted of a conspiracy charge.

The 47-year-old Australian activist was arrested on Thursday at the Ecuadorean embassy in London after his hosts withdrew his political asylum, enabling British authorities to detain him.

The United States is seeking his extradition on a charge of computer hacking related to Wikileaks' work in 2010 with whistleblower Chelsea Manning.

Senator Di Natale said the US was targeting Assange for uncovering information that was in the public interest.

"Regardless of what you think of Julian Assange, the principle here is really important. Julian Assange is responsible for uncovering what were war crimes," he told the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.

"What we do know is that the US have said they are going to go after him. We do think that Australia should make representations to the US. If we've got a special relationship with the US, let's exercise that choice."

WikiLeaks has published thousands of state secrets, including embarrassing diplomatic cables and footage of a US military helicopter attack in Iraq that killed civilians, including two staff members of news agency Reuters.

Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy seven years ago in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault charges. Those charges have since been dropped but Swedish authorities are re-examining the case.

Seventy British politicians have signed a petition urging the British government to ensure Assange is extradited to Sweden if the country reopens its investigation.

Assange's father, based in Melbourne, has expressed shock at how unwell his son looked in the footage of his removal from the embassy and called for the Australian government to help him.

Mr Shipton told News Corp: "DFAT and the Prime Minister should in a nuanced way do something".

He said there had been discussions about Assange somehow coming home to Australia.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said Assange will get "the same consular support and assistance that any other Australian will receive".

SMH/Age

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6043320/he-uncovered-war-crimes-greens-leader-urges-government-to-protect-julian-assange/?cs=14232