Julian Assange, WikiLeaks co-founder, is set to plead guilty to leaking US national security secrets and return to Australia under a deal with the US Justice Department. Following a 15-year battle and imprisonment in the UK, Assange will be sentenced to time already served. This agreement, influenced by negotiations between US and Australian officials, avoids the 175-year maximum sentence for espionage and computer misuse charges.
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By Katharine Gemmell
To his supporters, Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is a martyr whoās been persecuted for exposing corruption and war crimes. To others, heās an unscrupulous hacker who put lives in danger by publishing sensitive state secrets.
Now, after an almost 15-year battle to avoid imprisonment in the US, the saga is coming to an end. Assange is set to plead guilty to leaking US national security secrets and return to his home country of Australia, under a deal with the Justice Department in Washington.
US prosecutors have long tried to charge the 52-year-old activist with espionage offenses over his role in the release of classified documents with the help of US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. After spending seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he claimed asylum, Assange was arrested in 2019 and has been in a London jail ever since, fighting attempts to extradite him.
Assange left Londonās Belmarsh prison on Monday and was traveling to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a self-governing commonwealth of the US located in the Pacific, where he will enter his plea and avoid a potentially lengthy sentence.
What deal have the US and Assange struck?
Under the plea agreement, Assange will appear on Wednesday morning in the US District Court for the islands, where he will be sentenced immediately to time already served during his 62 months in prison in the UK, before heading to Australia.
How did the deal materialize?
Negotiations toward a plea agreement heated up in recent months after US President Joe Biden said he was considering a request from the Australian government to strike a deal that would allow Assange to return home. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had advocated for a resolution to Assangeās situation since his election win in May 2022, saying repeatedly that the case had ādragged on for too long.ā The Australian government paid for Assangeās $500,000 flight out of the UK and he was being accompanied by Australiaās UK High Commissioner, the BBC reported.
What charges has Assange avoided?
Assange was charged with encouraging and assisting Manning in obtaining around 750,000 classified or sensitive documents, one of the largest leaks of state secrets in US history. The original charges ā 17 related to espionage and one to computer misuse ā carried a maximum penalty of 175 years in prison if he was found guilty on all counts in the US, although sentences for federal crimes are typically less than that.
Why is the case important?
The US government said the leaks damaged national security and put lives at risk. Supporters of Assange said extraditing him could set a dangerous precedent for press freedom and journalism as well as for whistleblowers exposing crimes.
What was Assangeās argument against extradition?
His lawyers cited concerns about his fragile health following so many years of confinement and the risk that heād be sent to a tough so-called supermax prison ā something US officials insisted wouldnāt happen. In their most recent bid for a fresh appeal hearing, the lawyers said the US embassy in London hadnāt provided sufficient assurance that, as a non-US citizen, he would be able to mount a defense based on the US constitutional right to free speech. Two London judges ruled in May that Assange could mount a further appeal against his extradition given the uncertainty over those First Amendment rights.
Read also:
- Julian Assange set for freedom after striking US espionage plea deal
- WikiLeaksā Julian Assange faces US extradition judgement day
- London judges delay Assange extradition, allow appeal over US assurances
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