For John Shipton, father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, optimism and pessimism are two sides of a coin that holds no interest.
“I try not to use those sensibilities as sources of energy. I just take things as they come toward me, whatever event or whatever I think can be done, and I do the best I can on the day,” he told SBS News.
His son is currently being held in prison more than 17,000 kilometres away, housed with some of Britain's most notorious criminals, while a legal battle looks set to rumble on well into 2022.
Mr Assange faces up to 175 years in prison in the United States for alleged breaches of the Espionage Act.
“As long as I have got energy to continue to fight on behalf of Julian, and push this battle forward, and get a deeper understanding of the forces that are arranged against Julian and increase my capacity to engender assistance from population, parliamentarians, institutions, I'm okay,” Mr Shipton said, speaking from Victoria where he lives.
Mr Assange has been held in London's Belmarsh prison since 2019, and is currently detained on an extradition warrant to the US over espionage allegations stemming from publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010.
A sliver of light in the case from earlier this year – a judge in Westminster Magistrates' Court ruling the extradition could not proceed – was dashed last week when a higher court allowed an appeal from the US.
Mr Shipton said the situation and his son's treatment by the British legal system was “very, very distressing and disturbing”.
He added: “I'm continually startled by the savage malice displayed towards Julian by the English judiciary.
“You know, parents have duties to fight for their kids. That's the only proper duty they have.
“So we just fight, you know, and the malice, the more intense the malice, the greater the energy that I put into this matter, because I'm just not going to put up with it.”
The US said the release of the classified information put lives in danger, but Mr Assange's backers say the case is retaliation for his exposing of wrongdoing in overseas conflicts.
Among those who have called for Mr Assange, 50, to be set free are Amnesty International, the International Federation of Journalists and Human Rights Watch.
And, earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister to end attempts to extradite Mr Assange to the United States and raised questions over its fairness.
Mr Shipton welcomed the “very firm statement” by Mr Joyce, adding: “We're carried aloft by an increasing tide of support.
“He is not an American citizen, he is an Australian citizen. There are many, many publishers, in parallel with Julian and with Wikileaks, who have published his information and none of them are arraigned, or indicted, or hounded, or smeared, or suffer the savage malice and vicious hatred of state organisations overseas.
“So we can see that, with the activity in parliaments around the Western world, that the electorates are concerned about this activity, and that concern is forcing its way into … parliaments in the Western world.”
The plea from Mr Shipton is simple.
Julian Assange has been held at London’s Belmarsh Prison since his arrest in April 2019. Source: AAP
“I would say that all [Australian Prime Minister Scott] Morrison has to do is pick up the telephone [and] say to [UK Prime Minister Boris] Johnson: 'Bring this to an end, please. This is an Australian citizen, innocent of any wrongdoing, suffered 13 years of slings and arrows and malice and hatred from the institutions in your country',” he said.
“If he's broken any laws in the United Kingdom, try him there. As he hasn't broken any laws in the United Kingdom, then there's an aeroplane waiting for him at Gatwick and send him home straight away.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told SBS News this week: "Australia will continue to respect the UK legal process."
“The Australian government has raised the situation of Mr Assange with US and UK counterparts – including our expectations of due process, humane and fair treatment, access to proper medical and other care, and access to his legal team – and will continue to do so," they said.
Mr Shipton said: “Looking further into the future? I attempt not to do because, you know, all you've got in life is time. You get some time here. And I'm 77 and will be 78 next year.
“So I just take things as they flow towards me and do my best with them.
“As far as Julian's concerned, and his children, they have a lot more to lose. So I imagine they, you know, feel despair and distress and Stella [Moris, Julian's fiancée] has to carry them along. And they only get to see their father once in a while even while knowing that no actual offence has been made.”
Mr Shipton last spoke with his son a fortnight ago, shortly after it was ruled Mr Assange could marry Ms Moris while in prison.
“His spirits were a little elevated at that victory … being able to put his affairs with Stella in very good order. So that was one element,” Mr Shipton said.
“You make your best of these circumstances. His circumstances are not good. So you don't you try and elevate the mood of the meetings, but it's very moving.”
For now, the case still exists in legal limbo. The most recent ruling means the extradition hearing should return to the Westminster Magistrates' Court but Mr Assange's legal team will move to have it heard at the UK Supreme Court.
“It's beginning to be a mirror image in Julian's court case - persecution, prosecution and its irregularities, its lawbreaking and its abrogation of human rights - it's begun to be a mirror of what Julian uncovered in Iraq.
“It's like a hideous reflection.”
