By Neenah Payne

Julian Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks, is battling extradition from Britain to the United States where he faces a sentence of up to 175 years in a maximum-security prison for his release of U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010. Washington says the documents put lives in danger — although, as Assange pointed out, no evidence of harm has ever been presented.

Calls Grow To Release Julian Assange shows that Australia PM says ‘frustrated’ over continued detention of Julian Assange. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “Enough is enough, this needs to be brought to a conclusion, it needs to be worked through.” In November, Albanese raised the issue in meetings with United States officials but did not confirm if he would discuss it with President Biden during Biden’s visit to Sydney on May 24 for the Quad leaders’ summit.

However, it was announced on May 21 that due to the looming U.S. debt crisis, Biden cancelled his plans to participate in the Quad summit at Sydney’s opera house and have a bilateral discussion with the Australian leader. Instead, Biden’s meeting with Albanese happened Saturday afternoon.  The Biden administration said it will also plan a state visit for Albanese, an event expected later this year.

Stella Assange Will Address The National Press Club

Stella Assange, Julian’s wife, will be in Canberra, Australia on May 22 to address The National Press Club with Jennifer Robinson, Australian Human Rights lawyer and barrister. See Stella’s passionate plea as she said the life of her husband is “in the hands of the Australian government” as she pleaded for Canberra to do more to influence the US to stop the pursuit of the WikiLeaks founder. “This is the closest we’ve ever been to securing Julian’s release”.

The National Press Club of Australia site says:

Stella Assange grew up in Botswana, Lesotho, Sweden, and Spain. She moved to the UK to study politics and law at SOAS and Oxford University (LMH). Stella worked in East Timor and Botswana before joining Julian Assange’s international legal team in London in 2011. Stella formed an integral part of Julian Assange’s legal team since his years of confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy, where her fluency in Spanish and Swedish proved valuable. She changed her name to Stella Moris in 2012 out of concern for the safety of her family.

She and Julian have two children together, born in 2017 and 2019. They got married in March 2022 in Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London. Stella has published pieces about Julian Assange’s case in The Guardian, El Pais, The Independent, and the Daily Mail. She has also featured on BBC Hard Talk, BBC Woman’s Hour, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Guardian Saturday paper, and most recently in The Times Weekend Magazine.

On October 10, 2022, Stella joined thousands of others in a human chain around the Parliament of the United Kingdom, advocating for Assange’s freedom and an end to any extradition attempts.  The film Ithaka chronicling Stella’s fight to free her husband alongside Julian Assange’s father and brother, John and Gabriel Shipton, aired on ABC last year. Their campaign to free her husband has turned Julian Assange’s case into a global cause for freedom of press advocates the world over.

Jennifer Robinson, Australian Human Rights Lawyer and Barrister, will join Stella in speaking at the National Press Club Monday 5/22.

Jennifer Robinson has been instructed in domestic and international cases involving media law, public law and international law. She advises media organisations, journalists, whistle-blowers and high-profile individuals on all aspects of media law and reputation management. She has also been instructed in human rights related judicial review cases and has given expert evidence in Parliament and at the United Nations. Jen advises individual and state clients on a wide range of international law issues, has appeared before the International Court of Justice and regularly engages with UN Special Mechanisms. Many of her cases and clients are high-profile and involve novel cross-jurisdictional and comparative law issues. Jen can be instructed directly in suitable cases under the Bar’s Direct Access scheme and previously practised as a solicitor.

Stella will join the protest on Wednesday in Hyde Park at 10am in Sydney with Julian Assange’s father John and brother Gabriel Shipton, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, Stephen Kenny, and David McBride.

My journey to Australia has just begun!

Looking forward to joining the protest on Wednesday in Hyde Park at 10am! https://t.co/0W4LObD6bf pic.twitter.com/TUAJ6wbseI

— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) May 18, 2023

ITHAKA: Film With Julian’s Father and Brother

In his interview below with Del Bigtree, host of The Highwire which airs online Thursdays from 2-4 ET, Julian’s father and brother point out that both sides of the aisle in Congress support Julian’s release now. Calls Grow To Release Julian Assange links to this U.S. letter from the members of Congress.

ITHAKA DETAILS FATHERS FIGHT TO FREE JULIAN ASSANGE

John and Gabriel Shipton discuss their gripping documentary, Ithaka, which chronicles the unrelenting struggle to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, their son and brother, from a high-security prison in Britain for his part in releasing classified US government files to the public.

ITHAKA had its TV premiere in the UK on Sunday, May 21 at 10:20pm! “It is hugely significant that the film will be shown on terrestrial TV in the UK and I think it’s a sign of the growing concern for the continued imprisonment of Julian,” Stella Assange said.

The film tells the story of how Julian’s father, John Shipton, and now wife Stella Assange, join forces on an international odyssey to campaign for Julian’s freedom. As they rally a world- wide network of supporters and politicians, they cautiously step into the media’s glare — and are forced to confront the events that made Julian a global flashpoint.

Watch the trailer here.

Ithaka is an intimate documentary that follows 76-year-old, John Shipton’s battle to secure freedom for his son, Julian Assange.