Julian Assange’s wife says Biden’s comments mean case may be moving in the right direction

LONDON (AP) — The wife of Julian Assange said Thursday that her husband’s legal case “could be moving in the right direction” after President Joe Biden confirmed that the US may drop charges against the jailed WikiLeaks founder.

It came as supporters in several cities gathered to demand Assange’s release, on the fifth anniversary of his incarceration in London’s Belmarsh maximum security prison.

Biden said Wednesday that his administration is “considering” an order from Australia abandon decade-long US pressure to prosecute Assange for publishing a trove of confidential US documents. The proposal would see Assange, an Australian citizen, return home rather than be sent to the US to face espionage charges.

Authorities did not provide further details, but Stella Assange said the comments were “a good sign”.

“It looks like things might be moving in the right direction,” she told the BBC, saying the charge was “a legacy of Trump and really Joe Biden should have dropped it from day one.”

Assange was indicted on 17 espionage accusations and one count of computer misuse due to the publication of classified US documents on its website almost 15 years ago. US prosecutors allege Assange, 52, encouraged and helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning stealing diplomatic cables and military files published by WikiLeaks, putting lives at risk.

Australia argues there is a disconnect between the US treatment of Assange and Manning. Then-US President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence to seven years, which allowed her release in 2017.

Assange’s supporters say he is a First Amendment-protected journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange has been jailed since 2019 while fighting extradition, having spent seven years before that hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid being sent to Sweden over rape and sexual assault allegations.

The relationship between Assange and his hosts It eventually turned sour and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested and jailed him in Belmarsh for breaching bail in 2012

The UK government signed an extradition order in 2022, but a British court ruled last month that Assange cannot be sent to the United States unless U.S. authorities guarantee that he will not receive the death penalty.

A new court hearing on the case is scheduled for May 20.

Assange was too ill to attend his most recent hearings. Stella Assange said her husband’s health continues to deteriorate in prison and she fears he will die behind bars.