Pamela Anderson plans to raise concerns about imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange with the leader of his native Australia soon, the actress and activist said Wednesday.

Ms. Anderson, a longtime friend of the jailed WikiLeaks founder, said she will ask Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene in the situation surrounding Assange when she visits the country to film a television commercial this year.

The former “Baywatch” star and animal rights activist also indicated she intends to confront the Australian leader about suggestive comments he made about her previously.

“What is also important to me about this visit is the opportunity to speak to the Australian people and petition Prime Minister Morrison to intervene on behalf of Australian citizen, Julian Assange, who is being made a scapegoat of and suffered inhumanely for disseminating factual information we all should know about,” Ms. Anderson said in a statement.

“Mr. Morrison made a series of personally, disparaging remarks about me and I’d like to challenge him to debate this matter in front of the Australian people,” Ms. Anderson added.

Assange, 48, was born in Townsville, Australia. He was living in the U.K. in 2012 when he entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and requested asylum rather than surrendering to authorities and risking extradition to the U.S., where his WikiLeaks website was under investigation for publishing classified military and diplomatic material.

Ecuador ejected Assange from the embassy in April, and he was promptly jailed in connection with a warrant issued by U.S. authorities. The Justice Department subsequently charged him with several counts related to running WikiLeaks, and a British judge recently ruled that he must remain incarcerated in the U.K. pending an extradition trial scheduled to start in London next year.

Ms. Anderson has been a vocal supporter of Assange for several years, and she previously asked Mr. Morrison to intervene in the situation last November.

“I’ve had plenty of mates who have asked me if they can be my special envoy to sort the issue out with Pamela Anderson,” Mr. Morrison responded later that month, prompting the former “Playboy” model to condemn his comments at the time as “smutty” and “unnecessary.”

More recently, Ms. Anderson said last month that both the Australian and British governments are being “subservient” to the U.S. by keeping Assange in custody.

The Justice Department has charged Assange with conspiracy to commit computer hacking and multiple violations of the U.S. Espionage Act over his solicitation and publication of sensitive State and Defense Department material released online by WikiLeaks. He has asserted that he acted as a journalist and is fighting extradition.

Mr. Morrison’s office did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.

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