An off-the-cuff remark by Joe Biden has taken the world by surprise and evoked hopes among the supporters of Julian Assange that the US President may be considering Australia's request to drop his prosecution. Here are five quick questions on the comments and how we got here.
An off-the-cuff remark by Joe Biden has taken the world by surprise and evoked hopes among the supporters of Julian Assange that the United States may drop criminal charges against the WikiLeaks founder.
The president gave no further details before returning inside with Mr Kishida, but his comments are the strongest indication thus far that the US could possibly abandon Mr Assange's prosecution.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the statement from Mr Biden was "encouraging". "There's nothing to be gained by Mr Assange's continued incarceration, in my very strong view, and I've put that as the view of the Australian government," he said.
Andrew Wilkie, an independent Tasmanian MP and the co-chair of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group, said the comments offer "some comfort" that the US government was listening to Australia, provided the comments were "considered remarks". "We have a very close bilateral relationship, we are good friends, and I think when they see the Australian government taking such an unambiguous position, finally, I would add, then I'm sure it gets noticed."The UK High Court is due to receive more information from US lawyers on Mr Assange's extradition case by April 16. If that happens, a second hearing could take place on May 20.
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