Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder pleads guilty, secures his freedom

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded responsible to acquiring and publishing U.S. army secrets and techniques in a take care of Justice Department prosecutors that secures his liberty and concludes a drawn-out authorized saga that raised divisive questions on press freedom and nationwide safety.

The prison case of worldwide intrigue, which had performed out for years in main world phases of Washington and London, got here to a shock finish in a most uncommon setting with Assange, 52, coming into his plea Wednesday morning in federal court docket in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. The American commonwealth within the Pacific is comparatively near Assange’s native Australia and accommodated his need to keep away from coming into the continental United States.

The deal required the iconoclastic web writer to confess guilt to a single felony depend but additionally permitted him to return to Australia with none time in an American jail. The choose sentenced him to the 5 years he’d already spent behind bars within the United Kingdom, combating extradition to the United States on an Espionage Act indictment that would have carried a prolonged jail sentence within the occasion of a conviction. He was holed up for seven years earlier than that within the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

He smiled barely as U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona imposed the sentence, announcing him a “free man.”

The conclusion permits each side to say a level of satisfaction. The Justice Department, dealing with a defendant who had already served substantial jail time, was in a position to resolve — with out trial — a case that raised thorny authorized points and that may by no means have reached a jury in any respect given the plodding tempo of the extradition course of. Assange, for his half, signaled a begrudging contentment with the decision, saying in court docket that although he believed the Espionage Act contradicted the First Amendment, he accepted the results of soliciting categorized info from sources for publication.

Jennifer Robinson, one in all Assange’s attorneys, instructed reporters after the listening to that the case “sets a dangerous precedent that should be a concern to journalists everywhere.”

“It’s a huge relief to Julian Assange, to his family, to his friends, to his supporters and to us — to everyone who believes in free speech around the world — that he can now return home to his Australia and be reunited with his family,” she stated.

Assange arrived at court docket in a darkish go well with, with a tie loosened across the collar, after flying from Britain on a constitution aircraft accompanied by members of his authorized staff and Australian officers, together with the highest Australian diplomat within the U.Ok.

Inside the courthouse, he answered fundamental questions from Manglona, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, and appeared to pay attention intently as phrases of the deal have been mentioned.

He appeared upbeat and relaxed throughout the listening to, at occasions cracking jokes with the choose. While signing his plea settlement, he made a joke in regards to the 9-hour time distinction between the U.Ok. and Saipan. At one other level, when the choose requested him whether or not he was glad with the plea situations, Assange responded: “It might depend on the outcome,” sparking some laughter within the courtroom.

“So far, so good,” the choose responded.

The plea deal, disclosed Monday night time in a sparsely detailed Justice Department letter, represents the newest — and presumably last — chapter in a court docket combat involving the eccentric Australian pc skilled who has been celebrated by supporters as a transparency crusader however lambasted by nationwide safety hawks who insist that his conduct put lives at dangers and strayed far past the bounds of conventional journalism duties.

The prison case introduced by the Trump administration Justice Department facilities on the receipt and publication of tons of of 1000’s of struggle logs and diplomatic cables that included particulars of U.S. army wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prosecutors alleged that he teamed with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to acquire the data, together with by conspiring to crack a Defense Department pc password, and printed them with out regard to American nationwide safety. Names of human sources who offered info to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have been among the many particulars uncovered, prosecutors have stated.

But his actions drew an outpouring of help from press freedom advocates, who heralded his function in bringing to mild army conduct that may in any other case have been hid from view and warned of a chilling impact on journalists. Among the recordsdata printed by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter assault by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 folks, together with two Reuters journalists.

The indictment was unsealed in 2019, however Assange’s authorized woes lengthy predated the prison case and continued properly previous it.

Weeks after the discharge of the biggest doc cache in 2010, a Swedish prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Assange based mostly on one lady’s allegation of rape and one other’s allegation of molestation. Assange has lengthy maintained his innocence, and the investigation was later dropped.

He offered himself in 2012 to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, the place he claimed asylum on the grounds of political persecution, and spent the next seven years in self-exile there, welcoming a parade of superstar guests and making periodic appearances from the constructing’s balcony to handle supporters.

In 2019, his hosts revoked his asylum, permitting British police to arrest him. He remained locked up for the final 5 years whereas the Justice Department sought to extradite him, in a course of that encountered skepticism from British judges who anxious about how Assange could be handled by the U.S.

Ultimately, although, the decision sparing Assange jail time within the U.S. contradicts years of ominous warnings by Assange and his supporters that the American prison justice system would expose him to unduly harsh therapy, together with doubtlessly the dying penalty — one thing prosecutors by no means sought.

Last month, Assange gained the precise to enchantment an extradition order after his attorneys argued that the U.S. authorities offered “blatantly inadequate” assurances that he would have the identical free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain.

His spouse, Stella Assange, instructed the BBC from Australia that it had been “touch and go” over 72 hours whether or not the deal would go forward however she felt “elated” on the information.

“He will be a free man once it is signed off by a judge,” she stated, including that she nonetheless didn’t assume it was actual.

Assange on Monday left the London jail the place he has spent the final 5 years after being granted bail throughout a secret listening to final week. He boarded a aircraft that landed hours later in Bangkok to refuel earlier than taking off once more towards Saipan. A video posted by WikiLeaks on X, confirmed Assange staring intently out the window on the blue sky because the aircraft headed towards the island.

“Imagine. From over 5 years in a small cell in a maximum security prison. Nearly 14 years detained in the U.K. To this,” WikiLeaks wrote.

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Tucker reported from Fort Pierce, Florida, and Durkin Richer from Washington. Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Washington, Napat Kongsawad and David Rising in Bangkok, Jill Lawless and Brian Melley in London and Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.