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Assange 'happy' to go to US

Now that Chelsea Manning has had her sentence cut, pressure has fallen on Julian Assange to honour his promise to be extradited to the US.

File image of Julian Assange
File image of Julian Assange Source: AAP

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is 'happy' to go the USA, providing all of his rights are guaranteed, a statement on the groups Twitter account said.

The news comes after outgoing US President Barack Obama gave Chelsea Manning - who leaked a number of diplomatic cables and national security documents to Wikileaks in 2010 - clemency.

"Assange is still happy to come to the US provided all his rights are guaranteed despite White House now saying Manning was not quid-quo-pro," the Tweet on the Wikileaks account read.

President Obama's decision on Tuesday to commute Manning's sentence, cutting it by 30 years brought fresh attention to Assange.

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On Twitter last week, Assange's WikiLeaks posted the following: "If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case."

Assange has been holed up for more than four years at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

He has refused to meet prosecutors in Sweden, where he remains wanted on an allegation of rape, fearing he would be extradited to the US to face espionage charges if he leaves the embassy.

The US Justice Department has never announced any indictment of Assange, and it's not clear that any charges have been brought under seal.

With the commutation coming just days before Mr Obama leaves office, any decision on whether to charge or seek to extradite Assange will now fall to the Trump administration.

However Assange's lawyers say US officials still haven't met his conditions for agreeing to be extradited to the United States.

Despite Manning being released his lawyers now say he was demanding that Manning be freed "immediately."


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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