Australian Government Must Do More to Bring Assange Home, Human Rights Lawyer Says

“What the Australian government needs to do is exercise diplomatic protection over Julian Assange as an Australian citizen. It's not enough for [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison to say that he has had just as much if not more consular assistance as any other Australian. That is not what this case needs, this is a case of unprecedented nature. This is a case which threatens free speech around the world," Robinson said.

According to Robinson, the Australian government is capable of bringing Assange to Australia if it got involved, but it has so far elected not to do so.

“If we [Australia] are such a great ally [of the US], then why can we not raise a question like this about the treatment of an Australian citizen? If the Australian government were to get involved and to raise this with Washington, then I believe the Australian government could definitely bring him home. But they have so far refused to do so,” Robinson said before she called on the Australian public to pressure the government to get involved.

The 48-year-old Australian faces up to 175 years in jail if he is handed over to the US. He is wanted on charges of espionage and conspiring to commit computer intrusion for leaking classified documents that exposed US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.