Julian Assange Reaches Plea Deal for Release

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is reportedly planning to enter a guilty plea as part of a negotiated deal with the US Justice Department.

This deal could result in his release from custody and bring an end to a lengthy legal battle that has spanned multiple continents.

New court documents reveal that Assange has been charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information.

According to these documents, he is expected to appear in a federal court in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific, where he intends to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge involving the unlawful acquisition and dissemination of classified national defense information.

The charges against Assange in the US are related to one of the largest releases of classified information in American history, which occurred during President Barack Obama’s first term.

The government accuses Assange of collaborating with Chelsea Manning, a military intelligence analyst, to publish tens of thousands of activity reports about the war in Afghanistan.

These publications also included unfiltered US diplomatic cables that potentially put confidential sources at risk, significant activity reports related to the Iraq war, and information concerning Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The leaked information reportedly spans from 2009 to 2011.

The Assange’s WikiLeaks website was the platform through which the information was shared online.

Under the terms of a new agreement, Assange will be able to avoid imprisonment in the US. Prosecutors are set to pursue a 62-month sentence, equivalent to the time he has already spent in London’s high-security prison Belmarsh while contesting extradition to the US.

In a recent development, Assange secured the right to appeal an extradition order after his legal team argued that the assurances provided by the US government were “blatantly inadequate,” and did not guarantee him the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from the UK.

Before this, Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum following English court rulings that he should be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation.

In 2019, Ecuador withdrew his asylum status, leading to his arrest by British police for skipping bail when he initially sought shelter inside the embassy. Sweden later dropped its sex crimes investigation due to elapsed time.

Throughout more than a decade of legal battles, Assange’s family and supporters have expressed concern over his deteriorating physical and mental health.

If a federal judge approves the new plea deal, Assange could be credited for time served and be allowed to return immediately to his native country of Australia.

Assange has been widely praised as a hero for exposing military misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the documents published by WikiLeaks was a video showing a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad, resulting in the deaths of 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

However, his reputation has been marred by rape allegations, which he has consistently denied.

The plea agreement comes after President Joe Biden indicated that he was considering Australia’s request to cease the US pursuit of prosecuting Assange.

Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act and other offenses related to leaking classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks.

In 2017, President Obama commuted her sentence, leading to her release after serving approximately seven years behind bars.