WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange’s Years-Long Standoff with U.S. Government Ends in Dramatic Fashion
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is on the verge of gaining his freedom after over a decade of trying to evade U.S. legal action for leaking sensitive documents. Assange, who spent the last five years in a British prison, was in the midst of being transported from there to the Mariana Islands in the Pacific. There, he is expected to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge before a U.S. District Court judge. According to arrangements, he will be sentenced to the time already served in Britain and then released. This move comes following a plea agreement, which has been described as highly unusual and orchestrated, allowing Assange to avoid further jail time in the United States.
The decision to hold the proceedings in the Mariana Islands stems from Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental U.S. This location was also chosen due to its closeness to Australia, Assange’s home country, where he is expected to return after the proceedings.
Assange’s case has attracted considerable attention and controversy. He and then-Army Private Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning), were charged under the Espionage Act for their roles in disseminating classified documents related to U.S. national security. This included information on the Afghan and Iraq wars, diplomatic cables, and assessments related to Guantanamo Bay detainees, as well as materials from the Democratic National Committee in 2016.
The recent development has elicited mixed reactions. Some activists and organizations, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that this sets a dangerous precedent for what they view as “basic journalistic acts” under the Espionage Act. Conversely, figures like former Vice President Mike Pence have criticized the plea deal, asserting that Assange endangered U.S. military lives and that the administration’s decision is a “miscarriage of justice.”
As Assange’s procedural finish nears, opinions remain sharply divided on the implications for justice, national security, and freedom of the press.
By Jack Davis June 25, 2024 at 6:31am
After more than a decade of trying to avoid American retribution for leaking top secret documents, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is on the road to freedom.
In a highly orchestrated and highly unusual procedure, Assange was being flown Tuesday from the British prison where he has been for the past five years to the Mariana Islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where he will appear before a U.S. District Court judge.
When he gets there, he will plead guilty to a conspiracy charge, be sentenced to the five years he has served in Britain, and be free, according to NBC.
Wikileaks posted a video on X of Assange boarding a plane in London on Monday evening, and included a caption that read in part: “This is for everyone who worked for his freedom: thank you.”
Julian Assange boards flight at London Stansted Airport at 5PM (BST) Monday June 24th. This is for everyone who worked for his freedom: thank you.#FreedJulianAssange pic.twitter.com/Pqp5pBAhSQ
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 25, 2024
The Espionage Act charge against Assange said that he conspired beginning in 2009 with an Army private then known as Bradley Manning to disseminate national security documents with various classified labels. (Bradley Manning is now known as transgender activist Chelsea Manning.)
A letter from the Justice Department indicates that the Mariana Islands were chosen ”in light of the defendant’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States to enter his guilty plea and the proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to the defendant’s country of citizenship, Australia, to which we expect he will return at the conclusion of the proceedings.”
The Assange is going free, some activists were unhappy with the proceedings.
“The United States has now, for the first time in the more than 100-year history of the Espionage Act, obtained an Espionage Act conviction for basic journalistic acts,” said David Greene, director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation Civil Liberties, according to The New York Times.
Do you agree with Julian Assange being set free?
“These charges should never have been brought,” he said.
As of Tuesday morning, the plane believed to be carrying Assange had landed in Bangkok, Thailand, to refuel, according to NBC.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that “the case has dragged on for too long, there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”
Assange, with Manning’s help, published documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, diplomatic cables, and assessments of detainees at Guantánamo Bay. In 2016, WikiLeaks struck again, this time with emails from the Democratic National Committee.
The Biden White House distanced itself from the Assange deal.
“This was an independent decision made by the Department of Justice and there was no White House involvement in the plea deal decision,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Monday evening, according to NBC.
Assange spent years on the run from sex charges in Sweden that have since been dropped. Seven of those years were spent in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, before he was booted from the embassy and arrested by British authorities.
He had been held in a high-security prison for the past five years, according to NBC.
Former Vice President Mike Pence castigated the deal.
Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Biden administration’s plea deal with Assange is a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our…
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) June 25, 2024
“Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence wrote in a post on X.
“The Biden administration’s plea deal with Assange is a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families.”
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