Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is set to admit guilt on a charge of contravening American espionage legislation this Wednesday. This admission effectively concludes his 14-year legal journey and will pave the way for his return to his homeland, Australia, from the UK, hence terminating his UK incarceration.
The 52-year-old Assange chose to confess guilt to a lone criminal charge encompassing his involvement in securing and disclosing confidential US defence documents, as per declarations in the US district court of the Northern Mariana Islands.
A court hearing set for Wednesday, 9 am local time, on the Pacific island of Saipan is expected to sentence Assange to a prison term equivalent to 62 months he has already served. Prosecutors noted the selection of the island was due to its accessibility from Australia and Assange’s reticence to travel to the mainland US.
Assange was released from Belmarsh Prison, UK, on Monday, and was granted bail by the High Court of the UK. Subsequently, Assange boarded an aircraft, as announced by a statement from WikiLeaks that was posted on the social media platform X.
The statement read, “The outcome is a consequence of an extensive global drive involving grass-roots activists, freedom of speech advocates, political leaders and lawmakers from all walks of life, extending to the United Nations.” WikiLeaks posted a video on X showing Assange, donned in blue jeans and a shirt, signing a document before getting onto a private aircraft. He will head back to Australia post-hearing, according to the official statement.
Assange’s spouse, Stella, was elated at the news and expressed gratitude to all those who have campaigned for his release over the years through a post on X. A VistaJet aircraft bearing flight number FlightRadar24 was seen heading to Bangkok from Stansted on Monday afternoon.
The Australian government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has been advocating for Assange’s release. However, they have refrained from commenting on ongoing legal matters. An official stated that Assange’s case had been continually overstretched and his continued detention was futile. Assange’s legal representative remained unresponsive to comments.
In 2010, WikiLeaks, under the leadership of Julian Assange, disseminated numerous confidential military documents pertaining to America’s military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. This was declared the largest security violation of its kind in US military history, combined with a considerable amount of diplomatic cables.
The former US president, Donald Trump’s administration indicted Assange in response to WikiLeaks’ widespread release of confidential American documents. These documents were unveiled by Chelsea Manning, an ex-analyst for US military intelligence who faced charges under the Espionage Act.
The extensive collection exceeding 700,000 documents contained battlefield reports, diplomatic cables, and notably a disturbing 2007 video. The footage revealed a US Apache helicopter targeting alleged insurgents in Iraq, resulting in twelve casualties, two of which were Reuters news employees.
Assange’s indictment sparked international backlash, particularly from press freedom advocates and WikiLeaks supporters. They argue that Assange’s actions, as a publisher, do not warrant charges typically associated with federal government employees who disclose or steal data illicitly.
Critics consider this a potent threat to the freedom of the press. According to Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of a free speech organisation, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, a plea deal would circumvent serious repercussions for press freedom.
In 2010, Assange was apprehended in the UK with a European arrest warrant issued by Swedish authorities who wanted to question him about sex crime allegations which were later dismissed. To evade potential extradition to Sweden, Assange sought refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy where he spent seven years. He was evicted in 2019 and has been detained in London’s Belmarsh high-security jail for almost five years, where he continues to contest extradition to the US.
His detention period is akin to the sentence given to Reality Winner, an Air Force veteran and former intelligence contractor. Winner was jailed for 63 months for sharing classified information with a news outlet.
While in Belmarsh, Assange wed his partner Stella, and they had two children while he was confined in the Ecuadorean embassy.