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WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Released from Prison Following U.S. Plea Deal

TLDR

  • Julian Assange has been released from prison after reaching a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice.
  • Assange is expected to plead guilty to a single Espionage Act charge in exchange for a sentence of time already served.
  • He left the UK on a private jet and is headed to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands for a court appearance.
  • The plea deal concludes a long-running legal saga spanning multiple countries.
  • Assange is expected to return to his home country of Australia after the court proceedings.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison after reaching a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). This development marks the end of a long-running legal saga that has spanned over a decade and multiple continents.

Assange, who spent the last five years in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, left the UK on a private jet from Stansted Airport on Monday, June 24, 2024. His first stop was Bangkok, Thailand, for refueling before continuing to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Western Pacific.

According to court documents filed late Monday, Assange is scheduled to appear in federal court in Saipan on Wednesday, June 26. He is expected to plead guilty to a single felony charge under the Espionage Act for conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.

In exchange, prosecutors have agreed to a sentence equivalent to the five years Assange has already served in British prison while fighting extradition to the U.S.

The choice of Saipan for the court proceedings is due to Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States and the court’s proximity to Australia, his home country. After the court appearance and sentencing, Assange is expected to return to Australia as a free man.

This plea deal brings an abrupt conclusion to the U.S. government’s yearslong pursuit of Assange, whose WikiLeaks website published a trove of classified documents in 2010.

These documents included diplomatic cables and military files provided by former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. Among the files was a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

The case has been controversial, with supporters hailing Assange as a hero who exposed military wrongdoing, while critics accused him of endangering national security.

Press freedom advocates have lambasted the prosecution, arguing that Assange’s actions were protected under journalistic principles.

Federal prosecutors, however, maintained that his conduct went beyond journalism and amounted to soliciting, stealing, and indiscriminately publishing classified government documents.

Assange’s wife, Stella, confirmed the news to the BBC, expressing elation at the development. She mentioned that the details of the agreement would be made public once the judge has signed off on it.

The flight carrying Assange reportedly cost $500,000, and his supporters are launching a fundraising campaign to help cover the expenses.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, credited the involvement of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for helping to bring about the deal. Albanese told the Australian Parliament that an Australian envoy had flown with Assange from London, stating,

“Regardless of the views that people have about Mr. Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long.”

The plea agreement comes months after President Joe Biden said he was considering a request from Australia to drop the U.S. push to prosecute Assange. However, the White House reportedly was not involved in the decision to resolve Assange’s case.

Assange’s legal troubles began in 2010 when he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape allegations, which he denied. He spent nearly seven years in the embassy before his asylum was withdrawn in 2019, leading to his arrest by British police and subsequent imprisonment for skipping bail.

Throughout his ordeal, Assange has received support from various quarters, including a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that raised over 16,500 ether – worth over $55.2 million at current prices – for his legal defense.

The resolution of Assange’s case marks a significant moment in the ongoing debate about press freedom, government transparency, and national security.

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