Julian Assange’s father John Shipton has blasted the US for seeking “vindictive revenge” on his son for WikiLeaks exposing the US “destruction” of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and the “millions killed” in wars.

Assange is being punished for exposing the “grand narrative of every heinous crime of the late 20th century,” Lipton told protesters at a rally in Sydney, Australia, on Friday.

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“The consequence of WikiLeaks revealing these crimes, the destruction of Iraq, the destruction of Afghanistan, the destruction of Syria, the destruction of Libya, millions killed, they want their vindictive revenge,” he said.

Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison on Wednesday for breaching bail when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London seven years ago. He faces extradition to the US where he is accused of ‘conspiracy to commit computer intrusion’ for allegedly trying to help whistleblower Chelsea Manning. The war logs and cables leaked by Manning in 2010 revealed potential US war crimes and shocking details about foreign policy and civilian casualties.

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“Part of this resentment against Julian revealing these crimes is manifested by the English magistrate judiciary," Lipton said, pointing to “bizarre statements” being made against Assange in court, like that he is a narcissist.

Lipton also took aim at Ecuador, telling the crowd that “in order to get a loan, they sold an Australian citizen for money,” referring to the recent $4.2 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan Ecuador secured before Assange was removed from the embassy.

He called on the Australian people to give the government the courage to “stop assisting this by doing nothing,” and help to bring Assange home to his family.

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