LONDON: The wife of Julian Assange said Thursday her husband’s legal case “could be moving in the right direction” after President Joe Biden confirmed the US may drop charges against the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder.It came as supporters in several cities rallied to demand the release of Assange, on the fifth anniversary of his incarceration in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison.Biden said Wednesday that his administration is “considering” a request from Australia to drop the decade-long US push to prosecute Assange for publishing a trove of classified American documents. The proposal would see Assange, an Australian citizen, return home rather than be sent to the US to face espionage charges.Officials have not provided more details, but Stella Assange said the comments are “a good sign.”“It looks like things could be moving in the right direction,” she told the BBC, saying the indictment was “a Trump legacy and really Joe Biden should have dropped it from day one.”Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.“Mr. Assange has already paid a significant price and enough is enough,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.Assange has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of classified US documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege that Assange, 52, encouraged and helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published, 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 journalist protected by the First Amendment who exposed US military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.



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