WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to plead guilty to a felony charge as part of a deal with the U.S. Justice Department, bringing an end to a protracted legal battle that spanned multiple continents. Court papers filed on Monday revealed that Assange will appear in a federal court in the Mariana Islands to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
The plea agreement, subject to judicial approval, will result in Assange’s release from prison and his return to Australia. The deal also ensures that he will admit guilt while avoiding additional prison time. Assange had spent years evading arrest, seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after facing rape allegations in Sweden. He was subsequently arrested in the United Kingdom and has been held in a high-security British prison.
Assange’s U.S. attorney, Barry Pollack, has not yet commented on the plea agreement. The sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands, chosen due to Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental U.S. and the court’s proximity to Australia.
The WikiLeaks founder gained both praise and criticism for his role in publishing classified documents, including a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that resulted in the deaths of 11 individuals, including two Reuters journalists. While many hailed him as a hero for exposing military wrongdoing, Assange’s reputation was also marred by rape allegations, which he has consistently denied.
The Justice Department’s indictment, unsealed in 2019, accused Assange of aiding U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing diplomatic cables and military files that were subsequently published by WikiLeaks in 2010. Prosecutors argued that Assange’s actions harmed national security and aided adversaries, while press advocates and supporters maintained that he was acting as a journalist.
The plea agreement comes after President Joe Biden considered a request from Australia to drop the U.S. prosecution of Assange. Manning, who leaked classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks, was sentenced to 35 years in prison but had her sentence commuted by President Barack Obama in 2017.
Although Assange was never charged in connection with the Russian hacking operation during the 2016 U.S. election, his website’s publication of Democratic emails brought attention to the interference. The Trump administration, particularly former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, prioritized Assange’s arrest.
Assange’s family and supporters have expressed concerns about his physical and mental health, which have deteriorated during his lengthy legal battles. After spending seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange was arrested by British police when Ecuador withdrew his asylum status in 2019.
1 Response
This is absolutely outrageous! Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is being forced to plead guilty to a felony charge as part of a deal with the U.S. government. This is a blatant attack on freedom of speech and the right to expose government corruption.
Assange has been a champion for transparency and accountability, shedding light on the dark secrets of governments around the world. He has been a whistleblower, revealing the truth to the public and holding those in power accountable for their actions. And now,