Freedom for whistleblowers
Julian Assange is allowed to leave US court as a “free man” and flies back to Australia
A “free man”: Julian Assange on his way to the airport after the court hearing
© Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images
A judge approves Julian Assange’s US deal. This means that nothing stands in the way of the Wikileaks founder’s return to Australia. He himself finds it difficult to control his emotions in court.
It was apparently an early birthday present for Assange: “I heard that it’s your birthday next week. I hope you start your new life in a positive way.” According to observers, Julian Assange, who turns 53 next Wednesday (July 3), was close to tears after the verdict was announced.
“He is not a martyr for press freedom”: Stern editor-in-chief on the Assange deal
02:06 min
Five instead of 175 years in prison
Assange is the protagonist of a major espionage scandal. In 2006, the Australian founded the platform Wikileaks with the mission of supporting whistleblowers and bringing hidden information to light. From 2010 onwards, Wikileaks published secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by whistleblower Chelsea Manning. The USA subsequently accused Assange of stealing and publishing secret material, thereby endangering the lives of US informants.
For a long time, the American justice system wanted to put Assange on trial for espionage charges. He would have faced up to 175 years in prison in the USA. Instead, he recently negotiated a deal with the US justice system and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally obtain and distribute secret documents. According to the BBC and the Guardian, Judge Manglona determined that the sentence would be the same as the time the internet activist has already served in a high-security prison in London.
Julian Assange on the plane to Canberra
The justice deal spares Assange a trial and potentially further imprisonment in the USA. The United States had previously demanded his extradition from Great Britain. Instead, the 52-year-old can now return to his homeland. He wanted to travel directly from Saipan to Australia on Wednesday, as Wikileaks announced on the X platform. The court hearing was therefore not held on the American mainland, but in the remote US territory. The Northern Mariana Islands are just a few hours’ flight north of Australia.
Assange was released from prison in London on Monday without being noticed by the public and left Britain on a chartered plane to attend the court hearing on the Pacific island. After a stopover in the Thai capital Bangkok, he flew on to Saipan for the hearing.
The Bombardier charter plane took off from Saipan on Wednesday afternoon (local time) and is expected to arrive in the capital Canberra in the evening, according to “flightradar24”. On the platform, the flight number VJT199, which Assange’s wife Stella and Wikileaks had previously mentioned on social media, was the connection most closely watched by users worldwide.
Deal with US justice
This is how Assange’s desperate fight for his freedom went
Years of tug-of-war over WIkileaks founder
It is the adventurous end of a years-long odyssey with many legal battles. Assange began his sentence in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London about five years ago. Before his arrest in April 2019, he had evaded the reach of law enforcement authorities for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. They had initially targeted him on charges of rape in Sweden. However, these charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence.
While the USA demanded Assange’s extradition for years, human rights organisations, journalists’ associations, artists and politicians called for his immediate release. The Australian government also campaigned for the release of its citizen.