Australia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith has visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in prison in London.
It's the first time Australia's top diplomat in the UK has visited Mr Assange since he was locked up in Belmarsh Prison nearly four years ago.
On his way into the high security prison Mr Smith told the ABC he was pleased that he was able to visit Mr Assange.
"No Australian official has seen him since November of 2019," he said. "That's a very long time."
"I'm very keen just to have a conversation with him, check on his health and wellbeing and hopefully see whether regular visits might be a feature of the relationship with Mr Assange going forward."
Mr Smith, who has been in the role since late January, said it was "very important that the Australian government is able to discharge its consular obligations".
But it's clear that Mr Assange saw this visit as something much more than a consular visit.
The ABC has been told Mr Assange planned to ask the High Commissioner what progress was being made by the Albanese government to secure his release.
An email obtained by the ABC, sent by Mr Assange's legal team to the Australian High Commission six weeks ago while the visit was still being negotiated, made it clear he was not seeking standard consular support.
"Mr Assange would welcome such a meeting for the same reason that underpinned his father's request; to inform and obtain diplomatic support to be advanced by the Australian government in his case (as opposed to obtaining consular support)," the email said.
After the visit concluded, Mr Smith would not comment on whether these issues were discussed during the meeting.
"In accordance with usual Consular practice, and as agreed with Mr. Assange, I do not propose to comment on any details of our meeting," he said in a statement.
"The Australian government is clear in its view that Mr Assange's case has dragged on for too long and should be brought to a conclusion."
Outside the prison, in the hours leading up to the visit, Mr Assange's wife Stella said she was pleased Mr Smith had agreed to meet with her husband.
"We welcome that the Australian High Commissioner has agreed to come to this visit and I hope that it will be a constructive and positive step.
Press freedom NGO turned away
In a dramatic day outside the prison, press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was denied access to Mr Assange.
It would have been the first time an NGO had been granted visitation rights to the WikiLeaks publisher inside Belmarsh Prison, but RSF's representatives were turned away at the last moment.
"Without even checking our documentation, we were told that we would not be allowed in. The first official that we spoke to said that they had received, quote unquote, 'intelligence' that we were journalists and therefore we would not be allowed to visit," RSF Director of Operations and Campaigns Rebecca Vincent told a media conference.
"We are legitimate as an NGO in visiting him and he has a right to visitors. As Reporters Without Borders, when we do this job, it is always as an NGO, not as journalists."
RSF's Secretary-General Christophe Deloire travelled from Paris to visit Mr Assange.
He said he did not buy the prison's explanation for refusing his visit and labelled it "absurd".
"Clearly the official explanation of this denial of access is not sincere. It was decided and communicated with bad faith," Mr Deloire said.
"But this is another evidence that in this case of Julian Assange, nothing is ever normal. That the judiciary, and the prison administration do not deal with him as a normal prisoner."
Appeals to stop Mr Assange from being extradited to the US for publishing top secret material are still before the UK courts.
RSF repeated its demands that the Biden administration drop the charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
Ms Vincent said she had been lobbying the Australian government to put pressure on the US government.
"We wrote to Prime Minister [Anthony] Albanese ahead of his recent visit to the United States and urged him to raise this case with President Biden on the sidelines," she said.
"President Biden is scheduled to travel to Australia in May for the Quad Leaders summit and we are urging the leaders to discuss this case on the sidelines as well.
"We hope this (the High Commissioner's visit) is a shift towards more active engagement in the case and we call for Australia to do everything in its power to find a diplomatic solution and to allow for his release."
The ABC asked the US Department of Justice why it was pursuing the case against Mr Assange but it declined to comment.
