The United States has resumed its extradition campaign against Australian journalist Julian Assange with renewed fervor. In January this year, UK district judge Vanessa Baraitser had blocked a US extradition request — not on the basis that extradition threatened press freedom but that, in light of conditions in the US prison system, Assange would be at risk of suicide should he be transferred. Not to be deterred, the United States launched its appeal of the ruling on October 27, and the decision is due to be announced this month.

In all this, the Australian government has been disturbingly quiet. That Assange is an Australian citizen seems to count for nothing when it is the United States that is baying for blood. As early as 2010, former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard was so eager to please what she called “our best mates” in Washington that she suggested that Assange’s passport could be seized — until it was pointed out to her that this would be against the law. When asked about Assange’s arrest in 2019, current prime minister Scott Morrison simply said that “he should face the music.” Evidently the Australian government has abnegated all responsibility to protect one of its citizens from unlawful extradition.