Australia will not contest the extradition to the United States of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and has confidence in the British judicial system, a minister said on Thursday (April 21st).
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Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Wednesday issued an extradition order to the United States, where Australian national Julian Assange will stand trial for the publication of a series of classified files on US military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We have confidence in the independence and integrity of the British judicial system,"
Australia's Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC on Thursday.
The Australian government will not object to the extradition, he said.
If convicted, Julian Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.
He is currently being held in the UK at Belmarsh high security prison.
Barring an appeal, which his lawyers have until May 18 to file, Julian Assange will be extradited within 28 days of Home Secretary Priti Patel's decision to order the extradition.
Simon Birmingham also said Australia would continue to provide consular assistance to its citizen.
Read alsoJulian Assange: hero, traitor, journalist, hacker, activist… spy?
A coalition of 25 human rights groups - including Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch - criticized the extradition decision, calling it a
"serious threat to press freedom in the United States and abroad".
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The Australian has been fighting for more than ten years to avoid being extradited.
He spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid being handed over to Sweden where he faced sexual assault charges, which have since been dropped.
He was finally arrested by British police in April 2019 and imprisoned.