Julian Assange is flying to remote Pacific island to reach a deal with the US over spying

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to land on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, where his long-running campaign to avoid extradition to the US will officially end and he will surely be a different person. .

The 52-year-old man will appear before a court in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands to plead guilty to a charge that comes after the US dropped 17 other espionage charges against him.

After serving 62 months in prison, he will next fly to his native Australia to meet his wife, two young sons and others.

It follows his dramatic release from Belmarsh prison in London – where he has spent five years, largely in solitary confinement, fighting extradition – and business with US prosecutors.

Assange’s wife, Stella, said she was traveling to Australia on Sunday with the couple’s two young sons, Gabriel and Max, but it was not clear whether Assange would be released.

“It’s hard to believe that Julian has been in jail for so long,” he said. “It had become normal. I am grateful to those who made it possible, but I am also angry that it has come to this.

“Overall I’m happy, but until I see Julian, I’m not going to believe it’s really happening.”

She said her husband’s release would not have happened without the intervention of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been increasingly vocal in demanding the US drop charges against Assange.

“The public atmosphere has changed, and everyone understands that Julian has been a victim,” Ms Assange said.

Assange will admit his responsibility to a commission under the Espionage Business for obtaining and disclosing information of national value.

The allegations against him stem from one of the greatest revelations of classified information in American history, which came to light during Barack Obama’s first term in office.

Assange was once accused of conspiring with military confidence analyst Chelsea Manning to expose thousands of military reports regarding the war in Afghanistan.

The documents included unfiltered US diplomatic cables that potentially endangered classified assets, critical processing experiences in the context of the Iraq War, and data in the context of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The document states that the ideas were leaked between 2009 and 2011, and were shared on Assange’s WikiLeaks page.

At the last opportunity, Assange won the right to appeal on the extradition line, when his lawyers argued that the US government had provided a “patently inadequate” agreement that he would have a chance if he were to be extradited from the United Kingdom. There will be separate pronunciation protection similar to that of a US citizen. ,

WikiLeaks announced that Assange had left Belmarsh on Monday after spending 1,901 days there, departing from Stansted Airport on a chartered flight from VistaJet. The British government then showed that the plea guarantee had been signed on 19 June, and that Assange was on a flight that took off at 6.36 pm on Monday.

“This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grassroots organizers, press freedom campaigners, legislators, and leaders across the political spectrum to the United Nations,” WikiLeaks said in an overview. “This created space for long-term negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalized.”

The observation said: “WikiLeaks published unprecedented stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding powerful people accountable for their actions.

“As editor-in-chief, Julian paid a heavy price for these principles and the people’s right to know. As he returns to Australia, we thank all those who stood with us, fought for us and remained fully committed to the fight for his freedom. Julian’s freedom is our freedom.”

Before being imprisoned at Belmarsh, Assange sought safe haven at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, and was granted political asylum, then the courts of England ruled that he should be extradited to Sweden for a rape investigation. Needed

He was arrested by British police, then the Ecuadorian government withdrew his asylum status in 2019, then jailed in 2012 for the unproven crime of skipping bail.

Sweden ultimately closed its investigation of the sex crimes, with prosecutors declaring that, even if the alleged victim’s claim was credible, “the evidence has become significantly weaker due to the considerable time that has passed since the events in question”. Assange always denied all allegations and said that the relationship was consensual.

His people and supporters have so far said that his physical and mental health has suffered greatly during his more than a decade of prison battles.

Many around the world have hailed Assange as a hero for his condemnation of military crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the news published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter strike by US forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

WikiLeaks was accused of leaking mysterious US documents under the leadership of former President Donald Trump.

Many advocates of press democracy have argued that criminally charging Assange represents a warning to isolated speech.

Jamil Jafar, executive director of the independent speech organization NIGHT, said, “A plea agreement would avoid the worst-case scenario for press freedom, but this agreement assumes that Assange will face five years in prison for those activities.” “There will be punishment for what journalists do every day.” First Amendment Institute at Columbia College.

“It will cast a long shadow over the most important type of journalism, not only in this country but around the world.”

Simon Crowther, Amnesty World’s prison assistant, said: “We welcome the news that Julian Assange will be released, as we believe he should never have been imprisoned in this way. However, the fight to protect freedom of expression continues. The years-long global spectacle of prosecuting a publisher for exposing alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and other human rights violations has undoubtedly caused historic damage.

In Sweden, women’s rights advocates expressed regret that Assange was not interrogated in Sweden on allegations of rape and alternative sex crimes, which he had always denied.

Clara Berglund, head of the Swedish Ladies Foyer, said, “This is a betrayal of the women who complained about them and who were not given the chance for legal redress.” “This is a chapter of shame and betrayal that will end with his release,” he said. “This is about an issue that happens on major political platforms, and men’s violence against women is incredibly downplayed.”

Alternatively, Anna Ardin, one of the girls most likely to file a lawsuit against Assange in Sweden, welcomed his release. “I have zero power here, but I’m glad he’s out, and hope he can fight for transparency and human rights without molesting women,” she said.

Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to violating the espionage business by leaking classified executive and military documents to WikiLeaks. President Obama commuted his sentence in 2017, allowing him to serve nearly seven years behind bars.