U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said his administration is weighing the Australian government’s requests to drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been deprived of his freedom since 2010 and is currently jailed in London’s notorious Belmarsh Prison while fighting extradition to the United States.<\/p>\n
Asked by reporters at the White House about requests<\/a> from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and members of the country’s Parliament for the U.S. and United Kingdom to drop the extradition effort and charges against Assange \u2013 an Australian citizen \u2013 Biden said that “we’re considering it.”<\/p>\n Stella Assange, Julian’s wife, responded to Biden’s remarks on social media. “Do the right thing,” she wrote<\/a>. “Drop the charges. #FreeAssangeNOW.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sre\u0107ko Horvat, a Croatian philosopher and co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 pan-European progressive political party, said<\/a> that “this would be the best decision Biden ever made.”<\/p>\n British journalist Afshin Rattansi asked<\/a>, “Why has Julian Assange been put through this ordeal in the first place?”<\/p>\n As @POTUS<\/a> responds \u201cwe\u2019re considering it\u201d to a media question about Australia\u2019s request to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, RSF reiterates our long-standing call on the Biden administration to drop these charges, close the case, and #FreeAssange<\/a>! pic.twitter.com\/AYozIF1SzQ<\/a><\/p>\n — RSF (@RSF_inter) April 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n