Just hours after news of Assange’s imminent fall from grace at the Japanese pace broke on Monday night, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told lawmakers that nothing would be achieved by continuing Assange’s imprisonment.
“Whatever people’s views about Mr. Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by his administration center. “We want him to be repatriated to Australia,” Albanese said.
Although former Vice President Mike Pence Tweeted He opposed the plea offer, saying that Assange’s activities have endangered America’s nationwide security and people’s lives.
“Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in wartime and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said. “The Biden administration’s settlement with Assange is a miscarriage of justice and an insult to the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces and their families.”
Assange’s plane left London on Monday for the Northern Mariana Islands, a US-sized archipelago in the Pacific, and would stop in Bangkok on Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday at 9 a.m. local speed (7 p.m. Tuesday at Japanese speed) in Saipan, the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Justice Division said in a letter filed Monday night. .
The DOJ letter said Assange is expected to plead guilty to a single charge of espionage before being returned to his home country of Australia, indicating he will be sentenced to 62 months already serving time in prison in London. Have spent in.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell welcomed Assange’s release from London’s Belmarsh prison, where he had been held for more than five years, saying in a statement that his case and “prolonged detention” had heightened human emotions. Rights related ideas. “We will continue to monitor developments in the coming days,” he said.
According to Reuters, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also welcomed the news, saying that Assange’s case was “discussed very emotionally all over the world and affected many people.” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tweeted that he was “celebrating” Assange’s release from prison.
On Tuesday, Assange’s wife Stella told BBC radio: “I’m very happy, to be honest, it’s unbelievable – it feels like it’s not real.”
He said that Assange’s fall was “touch and go” and that within a maximum of 24 hours it was confirmed that it was “really happening.”
Stella Assange said she was restricted in what she could say publicly regarding the plea, but confirmed that it involved a case under US espionage employment, and that her husband pleaded guilty to it. do.
“The important thing here is that the deal takes time to get done, so if he signs it he is ready to be free,” she said, without giving additional details, adding that the offer could one day become public. Will go.
Assange told Reuters that her husband would find any excuse, then he would request an individual be convicted of violating spy employment, which she described as “a very serious concern for journalists.” Only the President can grant pardons in the US.
Vaughan Smith, a café owner who once sheltered Julian Assange at his Norfolk property in England while he was fighting extradition, said in an email comment: “I am very proud of Julian and his wife Stella and their two children. Happy for the kids. This case needed to be brought to an end, but it is disappointing that US authorities were not able to completely bring this case to an end and protect all of our liberties.
James Ball, an early WikiLeaks activist who left the group after three months, said that neither Assange nor the US “can really call this a victory.”
“Many journalists – including myself – and many who are not fans of Assange said the prosecution was a risk to press freedom. A plea agreement does not change this, and it is something Assange would only agree to out of necessity,” he tweeted. Ball theorized that the plea offer was a “viable option” for Assange, who has spent years in exile and prison, and that the U.S.’s “chance to save face given Assange’s conviction will likely be slim to none.” “
The decision to hold the hearing in the Northern Mariana Islands was made “in view of the defendant’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States to plead his case and the proximity of the islands to Australia,” the DOJ said in its Monday letter. Said in his Monday letter.
Jody Ginsburg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Reporters, welcomed the scoop, noting that Assange’s prosecution had a “serious impact on journalists and press freedom around the world.”
Naomi Colvin, UK The program director of Blueprint, a free-speech NGO that has been closely following the case, said that Assange’s defeat “really led to Australia-US negotiations.”
“It’s appalling to me that the institutions that protect journalists are so weak that you have to rely on a close ally of the United States,” he said. “I worry about what would have happened if Assange had come from a country with less close ties to the United States.”
Alan Rusbridger, the former writer for the Mom newspaper who exposed WikiLeaks’ findings, welcomed the news, but added: “His behavior was a warning to journalists and whistleblowers to remain silent in future.” And I doubt it will work.”
Michael Moore, the filmmaker and longtime Assange supporter who met the WikiLeaks founder at Ecuador’s London embassy in 2016, called on the U.S. government to apologize to Assange “for this torture,” Parents According to.
“The good people of this world will never forget your sacrifice,” Moore said.
On this occasion Pence protested the scoop in America, alternative Republicans celebrated it.
Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said that Assange’s “acquittal is great news, but it’s a travesty that he’s already spent so much time in prison.” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called Assange’s possible death “amazing news”, adding that he had been “detained for years for the crime of doing journalism.”
Massey teamed up with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate Edward Snowden, a former national security company contractor who leaked information about top-secret U.S. surveillance systems, and Ross Ulbricht, who was once sentenced. , was also called for independence. Paes was jailed in 2015 for his paintings of the web drug market Silk Street. Snowden, wanted by Washington on espionage charges, lives in exile in Russia.
In an overview, WikiLeaks said Assange’s escape from Britain was “the result of a global campaign that involved grassroots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders across the political spectrum,” Gang 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,” WikiLeaks said.
Speaking from Sydney, Stella Assange told BBC radio that she has not yet told her two sons, aged 5 and 7, that they will be reunited with their father, with whom they have only spent time when he was away. Are in captivity.
“I just told them it was a big surprise,” he said.
“The priority now is for Julian to get healthy again, he is in very bad shape,” she said, adding that she intended to “get in touch with nature” and “start a new chapter.”
Carla Adam contributed to this file.
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