Contributed by Jim Hayes

Julian Assange is an Australian citizen who has been “arbitrarily” detained for over 6 years. Originally over demonstrably false and politically motivated charges by Sweden. There was a a genuine fear of a conspiracy to have him extradited to the United States, to be tried for treason or espionage.

This Was over the release of many awkward documents that severely embarrassed Washington over its behaviour. They showed that Americans and the world had been lied to, and the carrying out of illegal acts.

Thanks to WikiLeaks, it has been possible to reveal the true face of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq (Afghan War Logs, Iraq War Logs Files and Collateral Murder). It has been possible to reveal the inner workings of the U.S. private intelligence firm Stratfor (GIFiles) and the National Security Agency intercepts on German, French, Italian and Japanese leaders, including intercepts of the controversial, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (NSA World Spying Files). WikiLeaks also revealed EU operations to stop migrants and refugees (EU Military Ops Against Refugee Flow Files), and the CIA cyber weapons (Vault 7 Files).

Assange and WikiLeaks also exposed the details of activities of major corporations, laundering money through tax havens to avoid Paying tax, and their connections to the political elite.

Then there was the release of the emails that damaged Hillary Clinton.

Because of this, Assange is accused of colluding with the Russians. It is said that they handed over the documents. Assange and WikiLeaks have vehemently denied this. Absolutely no evidence to the contrary has been put forward.

Julian Assange sought asylum, because he knew that there was no chance he would receive a fair trial.

Political pressure and a less sympathetic government in Ecuador have kept him in virtual isolation for months, after being denied internet access. He is being pressured to surrender to the British authorities, who have indicated they would still collude with his extradition to the United States.

Julian Assange is a respected journalist and winner of the Martha Gellhorn prize. A journalists’ job should be, to bring out the truth. He has done no more than this. No one has denied that the exposed documents are real. Nor can he be accused of lying, because he has relied on the documents to speak for themselves. Assange is wanted for bringing the truth to light.

This puts the whole affair into its proper perspective. Julian Assange is being pursued to silence all those who would speak out. This is the real target.

Recognition that an injustice has occured, the right of  journalists right to report threatened, and the security of whistleblowers who provide information threatened, has generated a wave of support for Julian Assange.

On 5 February 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, determined that Julian Assange’s arbitrary “detention should be brought to an end and that Mr. Assange should be afforded the right to compensation.” this should have been enough to secure freedom. But the British government prefers to continue to play the political game and please Washington.

Australian governments have failed to carry out their duty to protect an Australian citizen, when it’s not politically convenient to do so. In this case, a demand from Washington comes before the rights of Australian citizens.

Julian Assange has a great deal of support from the Australian community, which wants the Australian government to intervene and bring him back home. He needs a guarantee of safe Passage out of the Ecuadorian Embassy, for safe transport to Australia, and that no extradition will be carried out.

Change.org has begun an online petition to have this done. This can be accessedvia the link.