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Assange calls on Gillard for protection

Assange wants to return home to Australia with a guarantee he would not be handed over to the US government.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to put her foot down and offer him protection from the US government.

The whistleblower made the comments as he prepared to face a London court next week for the start of legal proceedings to have him extradited to Sweden on possible sexual assault charges.

Supporters claim the charges have been trumped up to silence him.

"Gillard needs to declare publicly that this is not an acceptable treatment of an Australian organisation," Assange told the Seven Network. "WikiLeaks is registered in Australia."

"Nor is it acceptable treatment of an Australian."

The US government is looking at whether the whistleblower can also be charged over the release of classified documents on his WikiLeaks website.

Assange said he wanted to return home to Australia with a guarantee he would not be handed over to the US government.

"I'd like to return immediately," Assange said on Tuesday.

"I would have returned to Australia in November, but our view and our intelligence was that it was not safe in Australia."

Assange described WikiLeaks as a "source protection agency".

Earlier on Tuesday, Assange's mother said Gillard must stand up the US, adding the Australia-US alliance could survive some honest criticism of its handling of the matter.

"She's got many people in Australia who don't follow her position on this," Assange told AAP.

"There is a lot of dissention among her ranks in the Labor Party over it.

"She has to be a true leader and not a sycophant of the US and in fact maybe help the US realise their freedom of speech is one of the most important attributes of their culture."

Assange also called for donations to a new legal defence fund for her son, set up after his accounts were frozen.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: AAP, etwork, Labor Party, Seven Network
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