Australian lawmakers have asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene in the case of Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, after the United States won a decisive appeal in its fight to extradite the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges, according to The Guardian.
"The prime minister must bring Assange home," Australian Green leader Adam Band told the Guardian Australia.
"An Australian citizen is on trial for publishing details of war crimes, but our government is sitting on its hands and doing nothing."
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie called on Morrison to "end this madness" and called on the United States and the United Kingdom to release Assange.
Assange, 50, is wanted in the United States for allegedly plotting to obtain and disclose classified information after WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of leaked documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In January, a UK court ruled that Assange should not be sent to the United States, citing a real and "depressing" risk of suicide, but after a two-day appeal hearing, the Supreme Court sided with the United States on Friday.
Senior judges have concluded that the risk of suicide has been mitigated by US authorities' assurances that Assange will not be held under strict conditions in prison if extradited.
Assange's lawyers have said they intend to challenge the decision in another appeal, this time to the UK's Supreme Court.
The gang described the decision as "a critical moment in the fight against the suppression of freedom of speech".
"The persecution of Assange and the inaction of our government are chilling and should worry anyone who is interested in free journalism or believes that governments should protect their citizens," he said.
Wilkie said Assange was probably looking forward to spending Christmas with his sons and fiancée.
"But instead he faces a 175-year sentence and a very real opportunity to spend his last days behind bars," the independent MP said. "Journalism is not a crime.
"Once again, the United Kingdom is proving to be a United States footman and that Australia is happy to help.
Green Senator Janet Rice also criticized the decision, saying: "Australian Foreign Minister Mariz Payne must urgently speak to the United States and tell them to drop these absurd allegations and end Assange's torture.
The decision that Assange could be extradited to the United States also angered UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, who sharply criticized the sentence.
"This is a mistake of the British judicial system," Melzer told the DPA news agency on Friday.
"You can think what you want about Assange, but he is unable to be extradited," he said, referring to a "politically motivated sentence".
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