WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to be freed after appearing in court in the US territory of Saipan.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange landed in Saipan ahead of a scheduled court appearance where he is expected to plead guilty to an espionage charge as part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice that will allow him to return home. Native Australia.
Assange, 52, is due to appear Wednesday morning in US federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a US Commonwealth territory in the Western Pacific.
“Julian Assange has arrived on US territory on the island of Saipan to formalize the plea deal that should never have taken place,” WikiLeaks said in X.
Saipan was chosen to appear in court because of Assange's opposition to traveling to the mainland United States, as well as its proximity to his home in Australia, prosecutors said.
Under the agreement, Assange will plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
NOW: Julian Assange arrived on US soil on the island of Saipan to formalize the plea deal that should never have taken place. #AssangeJet pic.twitter.com/Q0Lqaaeye8
—WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 25, 2024
Assange will be sentenced to 62 months in prison already served in the United Kingdom during his hearing, scheduled for 09:00 local time on Wednesday (23:00 GMT on Tuesday).
Al Jazeera's Sarah Clarke, reporting from Brisbane, Australia, said Assange's long-awaited court appearance in Saipan, which is about 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) from Australia, is the closest he has been to his home country. in more than a decade. .
“He is willing to admit to violating U.S. espionage laws, that was obviously part of his plea deal. We expect him to receive a 62-month sentence, but it is unlikely that he will serve it due to the time he has already spent in a UK prison,” Clarke said.
“The details of this agreement will be better known once the Saipan judge of that court has signed that agreement,” he said.
“We hope it will land in Australia, in Canberra, the capital, this afternoon. “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has long said that this saga has gone on for too long… and it is time for Assange to return home and that journey begins today,” he added.
Assange's court appearance and expected release represents the final chapter in a more than decade-long legal odyssey over the fate of the computer expert, whose popular secret-sharing website WikiLeaks made him a cause célèbre among anti-government advocates. freedom of the press who said he acted as a journalist to expose US military irregularities.
Australian-born Assange spent more than five years in a high-security UK prison and seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London while fighting accusations of sexual crimes in Sweden and fighting extradition to the United States, where He faced 18 criminal charges.
Assange's supporters see him as a victim because he exposed US military crimes in its conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington has said the release of the secret documents put lives in danger.
Australian governments have been advocating for Assange's release and have raised the issue with the United States several times.
