Julian Assange’s lawyer pleads for a political rescue

Julian Assange is in for “years and years” behind bars if a “political solution” to his legal case isn’t found soon, his lawyer says. 

London-based barrister Jennifer Robinson has been carrying out a media blitz in her homeland of Australia this week, seeking to put pressure on the Albanese government to free her client. 

Assange, 51, has spent the past 10 years indoors. He was detained by UK police in 2019 after having spent the previous seven years inside an embassy apartment in London.

“The reason I’m here is because we need a political solution,” Robinson told Crikey.

“This case has always been political. If there isn’t a political solution, we’ll be tied up in years and years of legal process. It could be another decade of his life, and we don’t think he’ll last that long.” 

Assange’s legal team is seeking permission to appeal a UK government decision to extradite him to the US, where he’s facing 18 counts, including a spying allegation. 

The US says the Australian endangered lives when his whistleblowing organisation WikiLeaks published leaked documents in 2010 and 2011 related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 

Assange’s supporters say the publications were legitimate works of journalism and that Assange, who is being held in London’s Belmarsh prison, shouldn’t be punished for it. 

Robinson’s media appearances included a speech on Wednesday at the National Press Club in Canberra, where she told journalists present that the outcome of Assange’s case would set a precedent impacting reporters across the world. 

“Julian Assange won’t be the last of your colleagues to have his life destroyed in this line of work,” she told the audience. 

The UK extradition case isn’t the only Assange-related matter making its way through the courts. 

A group of lawyers and journalists who have filed a lawsuit against the US Central Intelligence Agency in a New York court, alleging the spy service violated their constitutional rights by copying material from their phones when they visited Assange in 2017 and 2018, were told by a judge earlier this week the case had been adjourned until February next year. 

At the time, Assange was hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden where authorities wanted to question him over an allegation of rape, which he denied.

That preliminary investigation was eventually scrapped in 2019 after the Swedish Prosecution Authority deemed that while the complainant had “submitted a credible and reliable version of events … the evidence has weakened considerably due to the long period of time that [had] elapsed” since the alleged 2010 incident. 

The people who filed the US lawsuit alleged they were forced to surrender their phones and laptops when they visited Assange in the embassy, and that a Spanish security firm hired by Ecuador had copied the information on the devices and handed it to the CIA, without the embassy’s knowledge. 

Robinson told Crikey the same kind of alleged phone-spying referenced in the lawsuit had happened to her as well. 

“I’ve taken my own case against the British government for spying on me, which was resolved successfully with a friendly settlement where the UK admitted my rights had been violated,” she said. 

European Court of Human Rights documents from June show Robinson was awarded €1000 for costs and expenses in relation to her suit against the UK.

“I got a small settlement, which I donated to charity,” Robinson said. 

Anthony Albanese, who said before becoming prime minister that Assange’s case had dragged on for too long and that “enough is enough”, has toned down his language on the matter since taking office, telling reporters earlier this year that “not all foreign affairs is best done with the loudhailer”. 

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told the National Press Club last week that the case against Assange had “gone on long enough”. 

Robinson said her legal team was “continuing to have conversations with the government” about the case and that “we will continue to press them to do the right thing”. 

She said Assange had recently suffered a “mini-stroke” and a bout of COVID-19, and that there were fears his life could be in danger if his incarceration continues.

“The key concern for us right now is Julian’s deteriorating health, and the prison conditions he will face if he’s extradited to the United States,” Robinson said. 

If “enough is enough” as Albanese says, is it time to bring out the loudhailer? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.