Court in the Act: Time to bring Julian Assange home says jailed journalist Peter Greste

Peter Greste — the journalist who spent more than a year locked up in an Egyptian prison — has said the Australian government took too long to finally call for the release and return of Julian Assange.

Assange took his final appeal against extradition to the United States to the UK’s highest court this week — a last bid to stop him from being sent across the Atlantic to face espionage charges.

Those charges stem from the Wikileaks releases of hundreds of thousands of US military documents in 2010 and 2011.

Since then, Assange has fought off allegations that he put lives at risk with his online leaks, alongside allegations of sexual assault against two women in Sweden.

The Swedish allegations fell away as Assange hid away in Ecuador’s embassy in London.

But the US has never gone away, and this week, argued that Assange should be sent to their country to face their justice system.

This sparked protests and pleas from Assange’s family, who say unless he is allowed home, he might die in prison.

A foreign prison was where Mr Greste was placed in 2013, accused of holding illegal meetings with a prescribed terror group in Egypt.

He called the allegations “preposterous”. The US called the sentence “chilling and draconian”.

And ultimately, through Australian government intervention, he was deported back to Australia. But has never been pardoned.

Now, Mr Greste is a professor of journalism and executive director of the Alliance for Journalist’s Freedom.

On this week’s episode of ‘Court in the Act’, he explained why Assange should be released from prison and allowed back to Australia – while also saying he still does not believe some of the 52-year-old’s actions were journalism.

“Even if I disagree with the way that he handled information, even if I think it’s not journalism — the way that the US government is using the Espionage Act to come after Julian for publishing the information that he did has serious implications for journalists,” Mr Greste said.

“It sets a very, very dangerous precedent that can be used against legitimate news organisations and legitimate journalists.

“It’s very difficult to have a sensible conversation about Julian Assange because everybody wants to push him into either of those camps. A hero or villain.

“It’s not just possible but important to hold those two contradictory truths together and recognise that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.”

Last week, the Albanese government stated that the US should consider dropping Assange’s charges, allowing him to return to Australia.

Mr Greste welcomed that stance but said it had taken too long.

“It’s frustrating. Regrettably, the Australian Government’s taken this long, but I’m pleased it’s done it ultimately,” Mr Greste said.

“I think it would have been much more helpful if the Australian government had come to that position sooner.

“It’s taken a hell of a long time, as you mentioned a moment ago. And I think if the Australian Government had been more forthcoming, then they might not have found ourselves in this situation.

“Julian might have been home before now.”

The UK High Court reserved the decision on whether Assange can appeal his extradition to a later date. Assange himself was too ill to attend the two-day hearing.