A group of Australian politicians met with US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy to push for her country to drop its pursuit of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange.
The Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group said it was grateful for the opportunity to meet the ambassador at the US embassy in Canberra on Tuesday.
The MPs discussed the “widespread concern in Australia” about the ongoing attempts by the US to extradite Mr Assange.
“In particular they impressed upon the ambassador the broad support in the Australian parliament for Mr Assange, which was echoed clearly by both the prime minister and opposition leader last week when they said this matter had gone on long enough,” the group’s statement reads.
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The parliamentary group said despite the “range of views” held about Mr Assange, what wasn’t in dispute was the Australian was “being treated unjustly and that the community feels that the extradition should be dropped and Mr Assange allowed to return to Australia”.
The meeting was attended by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Labor MP Josh Wilson, Liberal MP Bridget Archer, Greens Senator David Shoebridge and Labor MP Julian Hill.
Mr Assange has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison for the past four years, where he is fighting extradition to face espionage charges in the US.
Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, visited Mr Assange in prison last month.
