After attending the coronation of the King in London, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the dearth of concerted efforts to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent 4 years in Belmarsh Prison.

“It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. It’s a crazy thing,” Mr Lula instructed reporters.

“We talk about freedom of expression; the guy is in prison because he denounced wrongdoing. And the press doesn’t do anything in defence of this journalist. I can’t understand it.”

Mr Lula provided the remarks in response to a query about Assange, who’s a local Australian. He mentioned he had forgotten to debate the matter with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, however that he would write to him upon returning to Brazil.

His stance and repeated statements have drawn sharp rebukes from the White House and Europe.

For its half, Australia has been stepping up diplomatic strain on the US authorities to name off its prosecution of Assange.

On Friday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese instructed the Australian Broadcasting Corp in an interview that “enough is enough. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration”.

Last November, Mr Albanese instructed Parliament that his “position is clear and has been made clear to the US administration: That it is time that this matter be brought to a close”.

Assange has battled in British courts for years to keep away from being despatched to the US, the place he faces 17 costs of espionage and one cost of laptop misuse that stem from WikiLeaks’ publication of an enormous trove of categorised paperwork in 2010.

American prosecutors allege he helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal categorised diplomatic cables and navy information that WikiLeaks later revealed, placing lives in danger.

To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who uncovered US navy wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think there must be a movement of world press in his defence. Not in regard to his person, but to defend the right to denounce,” Mr Lula instructed reporters.

“The guy didn’t denounce anything vulgar. He denounced that a state was spying on others, and that became a crime against the journalist. The press, which defends freedom of the press, does nothing to free this citizen. It’s sad, but it’s true.”

Last yr, Assange’s father John Shipton sought to persuade Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to deal with the difficulty of his son’s prosecution with the US’ prime diplomat, and to get Australia’s Mr Albanese to boost the difficulty with US President Joe Biden at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.