The decision by the UK Government overnight to approve the extradition of Julian Assange to the US, to face trumped up espionage and other charges, is an outrageous betrayal of the rule of law, media freedom and human rights.
This matter is so deeply wrong on so many levels. Mr Assange is a Walkley Award winning Australian journalist who revealed hard evidence of US war crimes and other misconduct. This outraged Washington and the Americans are desperate to get even, with the UK and Australian governments tripping over themselves in the rush to please the US and go along for the ride.
Good grief the US doesn’t even have global legal extraterritoriality, and nor does the UK/US extradition agreement include the charges levelled at Mr Assange.
Like many Australians I’ve given the new Federal Government plenty of time to sort this matter out. Well times up for the new Federal Government hinting at caring and then doing nothing. The new Australian Government is now to be condemned for abandoning an Australian hero journalist facing the very real prospect of spending the rest of his life rotting in a US prison.