AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among the MPs that today passed a motion that demanded the United States and Britain allow jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to return to his native Australia.

Andrew Wilkie, an independent MP called the 86 to 42 vote in favour of the motion “an unprecedented show of political support for Mr Assange by the Australian parliament.”

Right-wing Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton joined with opposition MPs to oppose the motion, although the Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to back the motion.

Attorney general Mark Dreyfus told the Guardian Australia: “It is time this matter is brought to an end.”

Mr Assange has been held in Belmarsh prison in London since April 2019 as he fights extradition to the US to face charges including breaching the US Espionage Act.

What may be Mr Assange’s final appeal against extradition is due to be heard in the British High Court next week.

The charges relate to publication of thousands of leaked documents about alleged US war crimes during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011.

Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s expert on counter terrorism and criminal justice in Europe, said on Tuesday that “the risk to publishers and investigative journalists around the world hangs in the balance. Should Mr Assange be sent to the US and prosecuted there, global media freedoms will be on trial, too.

“Mr Assange will suffer personally from these politically motivated charges and the worldwide media community will be on notice that they too are not safe. 

Ms Hall said: “The public’s right to information about what their governments are doing in their name will be profoundly undermined. The US must drop the charges under the espionage act against Mr Assange and bring an end to his arbitrary detention in Britain.”