Assange, an Australian citizen, lost his legal battle to block his extradition from Britain to Sweden, where he will face allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Assange has strongly denied the allegations, and claims they are politically motivated after his whistleblowing website leaked confidential documents that angered governments around the world last year.
He believes that because of these political interests, he will not get a fair trial in Sweden, and that it could lead to his transfer to the US where he will face what are reported to be “unspecified charges of spying”.
Assange’s legal counsel Geoffrey Robertson said: ” I think Canberra may have to do something about it.
“It’s got a duty to help Australians in peril in foreign courts.
“As far as Julian Assange is concerned, Sweden doesn’t have bail, doesn’t have money bail for foreigners, so he’s likely to be held in custody.”
He added: “[Assange is] going to be tried in secret, and this is outrageous by our standards and by any standards.”
Christine Assange, the WikiLeaks founder’s mother, said that her son would not resist extradition to Sweden if the Australian government could guarantee he would not be transferred to the US later on.
However, it is not known how likely it is that the Australian government would intervene. Prime minister Julia Gillard has in the past criticised WikiLeaks for being “anarchic”.
Assange has 14 days to take the case to the British Supreme Court.
