A deal to release Julian Assange
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty on Wednesday to violating US Espionage Act, in a deal that will end his imprisonment in Britain and allow him to return to his native Australia, ending a 14-year legal saga.
Assange, 52, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and release classified US national defense documents, according to filings filed in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
He is due to be sentenced to 62 months in prison, already served, at a hearing on Saipan Island at 9 AM local time on Wednesday (2300 GMT on Tuesday).
Prosecutors said the Pacific island was chosen because of Assange’s opposition to travel to the US mainland and its proximity to Australia.
WikiLeaks said in a statement posted on X that Assange left Britain’s Belmarsh prison on Monday before being released on bail by Britain’s High Court and boarded a plane that afternoon.
“This is the result of a global campaign involving grassroots organizers, press freedom activists, legislators, leaders from across the political spectrum and up to the United Nations,” WikiLeaks statement said.
A video posted by WikiLeaks on X, as Assange, wearing a blue shirt and jeans, showed him signing a document before boarding a private jet marked with Vista Jet charters.
The WikiLeaks statement said Assange would return to Australia after the hearing on Saipan Island.
His wife, Stella Assange, wrote in an X post, “Julian is free !!!!”
“Words cannot express our great gratitude to you, yes you who have all mobilized for years and years to make this happen,” she said.
Australia’s government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has been pushing for Assange’s release but declined to comment on the legal proceedings as they continue.
In 2010, WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents about Washington’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the largest security breach of its kind in US military history, along with collections of diplomatic cables.
Assange was convicted during the administration of former US President Donald Trump over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US documents, leaked by former US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and also on trial under the Espionage Act.
Many press freedom advocates say a criminal indictment against Assange is a threat to freedom of expression.
