WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange is planning to run for election to the Australian Senate, the organization announced yesterday on Twitter.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is on bail awaiting a British court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.
He strongly denies the claims, saying they are politically motivated and linked to the activities of WikiLeaks, which has published thousands of confidential documents on the Internet.
WikiLeaks said it appeared that the 40-year-old’s current legal situation did not rule him out of running for Australia’s upper house.
“We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained,” WikiLeaks said on Twitter. “Julian has decided to run.”
WikiLeaks said it will also field a candidate to run directly against Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in her lower-house electorate of Lalor, Victoria, in the elections, which are due next year.
“The state Julian will run for will be announced at the appropriate time,” WikiLeaks said.
The Australian government has previously blasted WikiLeaks, with Gillard describing its release of US diplomatic cables as “grossly irresponsible.”
Gillard’s government ordered Australian police to investigate whether WikiLeaks had broken Australian law, but they said in 2010 it had not broken any under their jurisdiction.
Assange, a former computer hacker, is fighting being sent to Stockholm because he fears it would open the way for his extradition to the US to face charges of spying, linked to the leaking of classified military documents by US soldier Bradley Manning.
Manning has been formally charged for allegedly turning over a trove of classified US documents to WikiLeaks.
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