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WikiLeaks is renewing its calls to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under a Donald Trump presidency, after the billionaire mogul previously expressed sympathy for the persecuted transparency advocate.
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The whistleblowing website thanked supporters Friday for demanding the Department of Justice free Assange, who is locked up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for fear of extradition to the United States for prosecution.
Australian Senator Pauline Hanson, who has called for a ban on Muslim immigration in Australia, sent a petition to Australia and the U.S. on Thursday demanding the "immediate release of Australian citizen and political prisoner WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
"I hope that in light of his great service towards freedom and truth President Elect Donald Trump will consider granting Mr Assange a full presidential pardon,” she wrote in a statement. “I hope the government of Australia has taken notice and will no longer continue to assist in the shameful imprisonment of an Australian hero."
An online petition for Trump's pardon, created after the election, has already garnered over 10,000 signatures.
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Assange’s attorney sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch in August lamenting that he had “repeatedly sought information from the Department of Justice regarding this now nearly-six-year-old investigation” and demanded she close the criminal investigation with no charges.
Barry Pollack noted that the FBI closed its investigation of Hillary Clinton because they found no criminal intent, while they would not do the same with Assange .
“WikiLeaks has published information out of a single overriding motivation: its belief that the information being published is newsworthy,” he wrote.
While Trump's campaign promises are likely unreliable, he tweeted in 2013 that he would pardon and apologize to whistleblower Edward Snowden should he be president.
Assange was accused of tilting the scales to deliver a Trump victory by dumping leaks of emails from Hillary Clinton, her campaign manager John Podesta and the Democratic National Convention. He has also been accused of collaborating with Russia by shifting attention from Clinton’s opponents, although no proof exists that this was the case.
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After Trump’s win, Assange released a statement against the accusations.
“This is not due to a personal desire to influence the outcome of the election. The Democratic and Republican candidates have both expressed hostility towards whistleblowers,” he wrote Tuesday.
“I spoke at the launch of the campaign for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, because her platform addresses the need to protect them. This is an issue that is close to my heart because of the Obama administration’s inhuman and degrading treatment of one of our alleged sources, Chelsea Manning. But WikiLeaks publications are not an attempt to get Jill Stein elected or to take revenge over Ms. Manning’s treatment either.”
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