“JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE”: WIKILEAKS

Tue 25 June 2024:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison in the UK and is heading home to Australia after agreeing to plead guilty to a charge of breaching US espionage laws.

“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks said in a statement on X.

“JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE”: WIKILEAKShttps://t.co/cEhoRTiRwi pic.twitter.com/JtgXJDZEPE

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) June 25, 2024

“He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.”

A video posted on X by WikiLeaks showed Assange dressed in a blue shirt and jeans signing a document before boarding a private jet.

Assange, 52, will plead guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents, according to a filing in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. He was released from Belmarsh prison on Monday and flown out of the country. Assange will be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a court hearing in Saipan on Wednesday.

A video posted by WikiLeaks showed Assange signing a document before boarding a private jet. The plane landed in Bangkok to refuel before continuing to the US territory.

Assange gained prominence with the launch of WikiLeaks in 2006, which became known for publishing classified material such as the 2010 release of US documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US charged him in 2019 with 17 counts of breaching the Espionage Act, accusing him of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to leak the material.

Press freedom advocates, meanwhile, argued that criminally charging Assange was a threat to free speech.

“WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions,” WikiLeaks said in its statement announcing the plea deal.

“As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know. As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.”

Assange was first arrested in London in 2010 on a Swedish warrant on sexual assault charges. Allowed bail pending the extradition case, Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 after a court ruled he could be sent to Sweden for trial.

He spent the next seven years in the tiny embassy – during which time Swedish police withdrew the rape charges – before the UK police arrested him on charges of breaching his bail conditions. Assange was being held in prison in the UK as the US extradition case went through the courts.

Monday’s plea deal comes as pressure mounted on US President Joe Biden to drop the long-running case against Assange.

Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday he wanted Assange back in Australia as soon as possible.

“Regardless of the views that people have about Mr Assange [and] his activities, the case has dragged on for too long,” Albanese said in parliament.

“There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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