Assange Plans Bid for Australian Senate

Source: WSJ

CANBERRA, Australia—WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in the Australian Senate in elections due next year despite being under virtual house arrest in England and facing criminal charges in Sweden, the group said Saturday.

The 40-year-old Australian citizen is fighting extradition to Sweden, where he's wanted over sex crime allegations. Mr. Assange has taken his legal battle all the way to Britain's Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on his case soon.

"We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained. Julian has decided to run," WikiLeaks announced on Twitter.

Mr. Assange has criticized Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's center-left government for not standing up for him against the potential threat of his extradition to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks' release of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents.

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